Undercover Babysitter
by coworly
Summary: AU. narusasunaru. Konoha Police's Naruto is sent undercover to the University as a student to secretly watch over Sasuke Uchiha. However, things don't always go smoothly when he learns that it is his blood Akatsuki wants, not his charge's.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **This is my first Naruto fanfiction! Recent obsession has driven me to try and write fanfiction once again. I have a habit of never finishing my stories, but I'm going to try my best to keep this one going. Please cheer me on!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, I don't profit. As well, the whole undercover police idea was inspired by bevino's Wiggle Those Hips: You're a School Girl Now so I won't take credit for that. However, the plot is mine.

**Warnings: **This will eventually be narusasu so that means there will be boys love. Don't like it, don't read it. My story does _not_ revolve solely around the romantic relationship, however, so you can skip over those parts when they come. There will be violence, cursing, and adult situations so please be warned now.

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

Naruto gasped and painfully took in another shaky breath. The pain in his shoulder was almost too great to bear as every small movement in his arm brought another jolt of pain. Tears threatened to flow out from the corners of his eyes and the feeling of the bullet lodged in his shoulder was making his body numb and his vision fuzzy. "Sasuke," He managed to croak out. The injured blond narrowed his eyes and looked at the figure hovering over him with a shocked expression on his face. "Sasuke, you've got to get away."

Experiencing trauma had never been Sasuke's strongest point. He could still remember seeing his father and mother lying dead on the floor, drenched in cold blood. Seeing Naruto like this, half-collapsed on the ground, a bullet lodged in his left shoulder, and blood pouring freely out of the hole, brought back memories that usually left him quaking in terror.

"You're a fucking bastard, Sasuke," grumbled Naruto as he raised himself up on shaky legs. The movement snapped the brunet back to reality and in a panic, his dark eyes swivelled from Naruto's injured form to the dark figure in the distance. All of a sudden, Naruto's right arm shoved him backwards forcefully. "MOVE!" He roared.

This time, Sasuke did move. He grabbed hold of Naruto's uninjured arm and yanked him along down the empty and dimly lit street. Whose bright idea was it to leave campus and go walking down the shadier part of town? Oh right, Sasuke's. The brunet cursed himself for his selfishness and stupidity as he turned a corner abruptly, taking Naruto by surprise. The blond let out a wrangled yell as he stumbled before regaining his balance. The alleyway led them closer towards a busier street; Sasuke was hoping that Itachi would not try and shoot them again if there were witnesses.

Unfortunately, hope and luck were not with him tonight. Seconds later, the resounding bang from the gun rang out in the alleyway and Naruto let out a frightening scream. He pitched forward, but instead of raising his hands up to cushion the fall as he would usually have done, the blond fell limply to the ground, his head smacking the concrete painfully. Sasuke let out a string of curse words as he kneeled at the blond's head, noticing a new bullet wound in the right shoulder. Now both of Narutos' arms were useless. With shaking hands, he lifted Naruto's head into his lap, noticing the torn skin on the side of his temple. There was no doubt the skull was cracked.

However, before Sasuke could raise his eyes and face their predator, he noticed in shock that the blood flowing out of the bullet hole was slowing down. He took a closer look. The skin glowed a violent red before the light vanished leaving behind brand new skin, the bullet still lodged inside the body. "Holy shit…" Sasuke muttered as he reached out to finger the skin gently. The first wound had been closed up as well and the gash in Naruto's temple had been healed, leaving only a small amount of warm wet blood on Sasuke's pants.

"Indeed," said a silky voice. "This _is_ most interesting…"

Sasuke's head snapped up and he instinctively threw his upper body over Naruto's fallen form. "Fuck off, Itachi." He growled. He knew he stood no chance against Itachi, even after all his Kempo training. He still had to protect Naruto and there was no way he could do it when his brother held a gun in his hand.

The silver weapon clicked and pointed at Sasuke's eyes. "You were always foolish, little brother. But never mind that… They will be pleased to hear that I have found the last Jinchuriki."

* * *

**A/N:** Praise, comments, and helpful critiques will be gladly welcomed!


	2. Meet the Sitter

**A/N: **Man, chapters take a long time to write. I'm always a bit amazed at people who can chug out 10 pages of writing in two hours. I can't do that.

**Disclaimer:** Characters are not mine.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed. Erm, violence. And Sasuke humour. What?

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter One: Meet the Sitter_

* * *

Any other kid would have groaned if they were told they were going to be going to school. Naruto Uzumaki was not any other kid. As soon as the words "You're going to school, brat" had been released out of the mouth of his guardian, he leap up out of his chair with a loud excited shriek of joy. "You're kidding me! School? Like a normal school?" He shouted, slamming his hands down on Tsunade's desk and leaning forward. The grin on his face stretched even wider when he saw the older woman nod precariously. "Finally!"

Home schooled all his life by Jiraiya, Tsunade's husband, Naruto had never had the opportunity to be what he considered to be normal. Because of the lack of interaction with his peers, Naruto didn't have friends his age aside from the one other orphan taken in by the police force. Sai was good fun and all, but he was also a little weird at times too. He was under the care of Danzo, who was the head of another section in the force and Danzo, himself, was a little weird too. He tended to take the "Show no fear, show no emotion at all" thing a bit far (1).

"Naruto, there's a reason." Tsunade began, a smirk playing in the corner of her red lips. It was nice to see the kid happy and excited. Naruto had been forced into maturity ever since the accident years ago – tragedy tends to do that to a person. Realizing that it was now time to be serious, the tall blond stopped doing his happy dance around the room and turned back to face Tsunade solemnly. "You have an assignment to gather information about a growing anti-government gang. We believe that Akatsuki has several members as regular students at Konoha University. You will be going undercover as a student and find out who these members are."

"Ehhh… you know I'm not good at doing scouting missions, Tsunade…" Naruto said hesitantly. He was more of a brash, hands-up-we-have-you-surrounded kind of mission guy.

"Then this is a good opportunity for you to work on those skills. Besides, who else can we use from the force who can blend in well as a regular student?" countered Tsunade with a sigh. She was nervous; this was the first mission she had given Naruto that required him going solo. "Anyway, you are to watch over another student and it is better we send someone his own age. We recently received a tip as to where Itachi Uchiha may be hiding as well as his intended target."

Naruto frowned noticeably at this news. The police force had been tracking Itachi for years ever since he murdered his parents twelve years ago. Nobody knew why he did it and nobody knew where he had disappeared to afterwards. To receive a clue, no matter how small, meant a great deal as the man was a master of eluding trackers. "Tsunade, who am I babysitting?" He asked with a scrunched up face. The prospect of going to University was awesome, but to be forced to baby sit while he was at it really put the damper on the good news. Hopefully it wasn't a whiney brat or a bastard. If he was lucky, maybe it'll be a hot girl!

Unfortunately, Naruto rarely was very lucky. "Sasuke Uchiha, the younger brother." The busty blonde replied as she fished a thick folder from the mess on her desk and handed it over to Naruto. "He doesn't know of this arrangement. If you feel that it is better for him to know your true purpose at the University, then let him know. I'll leave it up to your judgment." Naruto sighed at this. He didn't know this guy yet, but he had a feeling that if Sasuke was told he had a bodyguard, his pride would freak out. "I've arranged with the president of the University; you two will be room mates and your schedule will be relatively the same. He's a Social Science major, as you will be. It sounds like he's interested in working with the law when he's older."

Hesitantly, Naruto took the other stack of papers Tsunade handed to him, peering at the paper on top. It was a schedule of classes she had assigned him. "Old hag, these courses… am I suppose to actually complete my degree while I'm there?" He asked hesitantly, mixed emotions flitting over his face. At the nod, the blond began to grin widely. "Once I graduate, I'll be able to actually be part of the force, right?"

Tsunade returned the grin as she stood up. "Brat, you're already a part of us. If you study hard, we'll make it official. It's about time anyway since you're turning twenty soon." She ruffled his hair affectionately. "Also, I don't know how long this mission will last – everything depends on the actions of Itachi. If things work out, nothing will happen to this Sasuke kid and you can stay long enough to finish school." She quirked a smile at Naruto who was too busy looking through the files she had given him. With a gentle shove, she nudged him towards the door. "Now get packing. You leave tomorrow."

"Ehh?!"

* * *

Sasuke scowled deeply at the sheet of paper in front of him. Roommate? Didn't the university know that he, Sasuke Uchiha, did not get along well with other people and thus should not be assigned a roommate, for the sake of said roommate's safety? And sanity? Pfft. Obviously not, according to the paper in front of him.

His glare transferred from the innocent paper to the amused look his guardian was giving him. "I don't understand, Kakashi." He said, looking extremely unhappy. Not that Sasuke ever looked _happy_ either.

The one visible eye of Kakashi Hatake crinkled happily; he was obviously enjoying watching his charge suffer, being bossed around by a sheet of paper. "Well you wanted to live in The Academy residence and they don't provide single rooms, not if you get a private kitchen and washroom." He explained patiently.

Sasuke knew that already, but he just wanted a reason to be angry, nevertheless. The Academy was a relatively new building and had much nicer facilities and more privacy. "What if I get an idiot for a roommate? What if he expects me to be friends?" He continued to rant, nearly shuddering at the word "friends".

Kakashi rolled his eyes exasperatedly as he finished cleaning up the last of the dirty dishes. He dried his hands on a towel before joining Sasuke at the kitchen table. "It can't be that bad, you know. You're being a drama queen again." He grinned at the outraged look Sasuke gave him before holding up a hand to stop his protests. "But if you insist on being one, at least be grateful that you get your own room. Even if you have to share a kitchen and washroom with him, you have your own room."

As per usual, Kakashi was right. Sasuke shouldn't be complaining. Who knows, maybe he was going to be lucky and have an equally anti-social roommate and the two will avoid each other for most of the year. "Hn." He replied intelligently, having nothing else to say to his guardian. He folded the papers and stuffed them back inside the envelope where they came from. He was about to leave when Kakashi placed a hand on his arm.

"Sasuke, one more thing." He said, now looking serious, or as serious as he could with three-quarters of his face being hidden behind an eye patch and the high collar of his sweater. Sasuke didn't move, signalling Kakashi to continue. "I was told today that there was a sighting of Itachi." Sasuke stiffened.

"When?" He asked.

"Last week." Kakashi tightened his grip on the arm and stared hard at Sasuke. "Be careful. We don't know what he wants." They exchanged looks as the same thought crossed both their minds:

_Or who he wants…_

* * *

Naruto settled into his new home earlier than the other students. He wasn't sure why Tsunade wanted him to move in so soon, but he had a suspicion that she didn't want him to be staying in his dad's old house by himself any longer. Although, what difference did it make if Sasuke wasn't going to move in until a couple of days later?

Tsunade had convinced Naruto to sell the house – what was the point in keeping it if nobody was going to live in it? Naruto was reluctant to let it go. He had lived in that house all his life although most of the time by himself and although he had a lot of lonely memories in it, the house also contained the memories of his father, even if Naruto didn't know them himself. But Tsunade had a point and he also knew that there was no way he could afford to keep something he wouldn't be using. In the end, his guardian assured him that she would take care of the real estate stuff while he was away at school.

Naruto knew Tsunade was a busy woman so he appreciated that she took the day off to help him settle into the small apartment. Jiraiya tagged along, most likely only to see college girls in their short shorts and summer skirts. He was sorely disappointed to find the campus relatively empty and free of such said girls.

It was a nice place: each dorm room contained a private kitchenette, washroom, and two separate single bedrooms. It was smaller than a regular apartment but a suitable size for students. Naruto had already claimed his half of the cupboards in the kitchen, stocking up on ramen bowls. Tsunade was furious when she saw his stock and stuffed a bunch of greens into the fridge, threatening to pummel his head if he didn't eat his vegetables. Naruto only hoped his new roommate liked his veggies because he sure as hell wasn't going to eat all that.

As soon as his guardians left, Naruto was plunged into a room of emptiness and stillness. Not wanting to remain in the suffocating silence, he headed into his room where he turned on his laptop. He still had various boxes of his belongings lying around in the kitchen area, but he figured that since Sasuke wasn't going to be moving in any time soon, he'd have plenty of time to make himself comfortable. A few obstacles here and there wouldn't hurt. On his desk was the thick folder containing Sasuke's files which still needed to be read. Naruto flipped it open and was about to read the profile information when a firm knock sounded at the front door. Puzzled as to who it could be (Sasuke perhaps?), Naruto shoved the folder into a drawer before going over to open the door.

The first thing he noticed about the boy standing outside his door was the pale eyes. They were so pale that Naruto immediately wondered if the boy was blind. But the eyes shifted and focused on him and the blond took that thought back. It was quite the opposite actually; instead of seeing nothing, Naruto got the feeling that those eyes saw _everything_. Creepy.

"Umm… hey!" He said cheerfully with a grin.

The other boy returned a small smile and held out a hand politely. "Hi, I'm Neji. I'm your don for this floor."

"Naruto, nice to meet you!" Naruto chirped, shaking the hand eagerly. He let his eyes take in the appearance of the other boy, noticing the pale skin and long dark hair. The boy had a very effeminate air about him, but the strong jaw line and large _manly_ hands convinced Naruto that he was more man than woman. "I just moved in a couple of hours ago – I didn't know anybody else was here yet."

"I've been here for about a week now, helping out with putting up the decorations and getting the building presentable." Neji replied. "You're the first one here, but the others will start moving in later on in the week. I just wanted to introduce myself. As your don, you come to me if you have any problems with your rooms… do you know your way around campus yet?"

Naruto shook his head. He had never had a mission at Konoha University before so he had never had the chance to step on the grounds. He had a lot of exploring to do and the vast amount of trainingless time he had was unnerving. What we he suppose to do when the old hag wasn't yelling at him to do the drills? "I'm probably going to get lost the first month I'm here." He replied, sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Neji smirked slightly, "Well, get ready in five and I'll give you a tour then. I'll meet you at the front door." And with that, he turned away and headed down the hall.

Neji proved to be very pleasant company and a good first friend. Turned out he was the same age as Naruto, which surprised him at first. That was before he remembered that he was entering University relatively later than the first years and so being the same age as the upper years should be no surprise. Neji showed him around the main buildings and found the classrooms on Naruto's schedule with relative ease. By the end of the tour, Naruto had already memorized shortcuts that Neji showed him that would help him get to class faster.

The sun was starting to set on Konoha and Neji and Naruto walked briskly in the crisp autumn air. For some reason, Neji was insistent on getting back to the residence before nightfall. "Although there are campus police, Konoha is just as dangerous as a back alley in the slums if you're out at night by yourself." He explained.

Naruto frowned at this new piece of knowledge. "Why? What happens at night?"

Neji shrugged, "The usual if you're not being safe – robberies and rape. They can get pretty nasty; we've had cases that included knives and guns." The blond raised an eyebrow at this and quietly pondered in his head the possibility of this having any link to Akatsuki. Just because there were weapons involved did not mean it was gang activity, but at least this was a clue. He had a feeling he'll be staying out late at night more often from now on…

So preoccupied with his private musings, Naruto didn't notice when Neji abruptly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and the blond crashed into him unexpectedly. "Oomph! Neji, why'd you—"

"Shhh." The long-haired boy pointed across the street with wide eyes. Naruto turned towards the direction he pointed in before cursing under his breath. In the alleyway between two large, ominous buildings was a small gathering of bodies in the shadows. He squinted before realizing that the bodies were crowded in a circle around one lone figure. "Shit – It's Lee, that idiot!" Neji cursed. Naruto began to step forward towards the mob, but was stopped by a firm grip on his arm. "Uzumaki, what do you think you're doing?" Neji whispered harshly.

"Saving your friend." He said casually, wrenching his arm out of the grip.

Neji's pale eyes widened, "Are you crazy? You're going to get killed. Let me call the campus police instead!" But Naruto only shrugged before continuing forward.

From what he could see, there were about six to seven people surrounding this Lee with no visible weapons in sight. The group was most likely relying on their numbers to win rather than on their skills. The boy in the middle was putting up a good fight. His arms were held up in front of his body protectively and he was administering quick jabs and punches with unbelievable speed. However, he was no match against the obviously unfair numbers, and being surrounded and encased did not help.

Naruto grabbed a small rock from the ground and pitched it towards the head of the guy closest to him, hitting him sharply and accurately. With a yelp, the man whirled around and the rest of the group followed, noticing Naruto standing casually in the middle of the street, tossing a new pebble up and down in his hand. "Oi, what's up with this? Do you guys really think you're so powerful when there are seven of you beating up one guy?" The blond called out, tauntingly.

He grinned widely as Lee took advantage of this distraction to efficiently take out one of their numbers, hitting his joints sharply before throwing him over his shoulder into the ground. Naruto took this as a queue to join in. He dashed forward towards the closest man, ducking under a poorly put punch before jabbing harshly in the guy's gut, throat, and eye. He hooked his arm underneath his opponent's shoulder and flipped him over roughly into the ground.

The next guy came at him with the same weak punch and Naruto pushed it aside with his right hand, twisting his left underneath the outstretched arm to sock the guy firmly in the jaw before slamming his other arm into the back. Taking advantage of the man's pain, Naruto grappled the man into the ground.

One by one, Naruto and Lee took out the rest of the group with relative ease until there was only one man left. He was most likely the leader, the one who stood back while the others were thrown into battle. "Idiots." The man hissed. However, before anybody else could react, Neji appeared behind him and jabbed expertly at various pressure points on the man's back and he fell uselessly to the ground (2).

"Neji, my eternal rival!" cried Lee joyously as he flashed the brunet a thumbs-up and a bright 100-watt smile.

Neji did not return the actions (imagine: Neji doing the good guy pose?) but instead scowled darkly at the other man. "What the hell were you thinking, Lee?" He snapped irritably, looking ready to slap that bright grin off his face.

But Lee had already turned to the next man with the same smile. He held out his hand jovially and Naruto shook it, returning the smile, although his did not sparkle as much as Lee's. "Neji's friend, I am most grateful to you for helping me out in my time of need. I am Rock Lee, Neji's eternal rival!" Lee looked a bit ruffled up, a few bruises forming here and there on his face, but he was acting like everything was fine. In the light of the moon, Naruto could make out a strange bowl hair style and an outfit that consisted entirely of green.

"Naruto Uzumaki." He replied, his eyebrow twitching at the eternal rival comment. He didn't even want to ask Lee what they were eternal rivals over. "What was going on here?" He asked, bending down over the leader's body and groping around in the jacket and the sides of his pants.

Neji and Lee watched him with curious expressions. "I was just on my way back to The Academy when they surrounded me. They wanted me to take money out of my bank account, but I wasn't going to let them get the best of me so easily." Lee answered. He scratched the back of his head with a frown. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

Naruto couldn't find any weapon other than a switch blade in the man's pockets. If the team only wanted money, then they probably weren't anything related to Akatsuki. There was no way a dangerous gang would stoop so low as to mug a guy in order to help themselves out financially. And they weren't any real threat either fighting-wise. "Just checking…" He said nonchalantly, moving onto the next guy, "I guess we should call the police then."

He straightened up and reached into his pocket for his cell phone, ready to dial head office's number when he froze. Maybe it was better if the campus police took care of campus crimes – Tsunade had ordered him to only report to her if he had information on Akatsuki and Itachi Uchiha. This was neither.

"It's alright, Naruto, I've already called the campus police." Neji interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder and steering them over to the other side of the road, away from the fallen muggers. Lee followed. Already, several campus police cars were pulling up on the street and rushing over to handcuff the group. "That was really reckless of you, Naruto." He reprimanded, crossing his arms. "But thanks for saving Lee. _That idiot_." He added, glaring at his friend.

Naruto frowned, "Don't blame him for their actions, Neji."

"Well he wouldn't have gotten attacked if he didn't walk alone when it was dark!" Neji snapped. "He was basically asking Fate to--" He didn't continue. Instead, he turned away and refused to say any more, his pale eyes watching the campus police do their job.

Eyebrows raised, Naruto was about to retort when Lee placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "My apologies, Neji." Lee said sincerely, to which Neji replied with an "Hn". They didn't say anymore for an officer approached the group to question them about what happened that night.

The questioning did not take and soon the three of them were free to go. As Neji and Lee turned and began to head off in the direction of The Academy, Naruto spotted a familiar figure by one of the police cars and frowned. "You two go on ahead, I'll catch up later." He said, already turning and heading towards the direction of the figure waiting for him. Neji and Lee exchanged looks, but didn't leave. Instead, they waited patiently and watched Naruto approach the officer.

"Anko." Naruto said in a low voice; only his eyes were giving away how surprised he was to see her. "What are you doing here?"

Anko grinned knowingly at the younger boy with a sadistic smile. "You're not the only one who's going undercover. Tsunade planted me here so you have someone on campus to go to if you run into trouble." Naruto blinked his eyes in surprise before a small grin stretched over his face. Leave it to Tsunade to have the entire campus covered. He wouldn't be surprised if he ran into other familiar officers from his station planted all over the University. The older woman leaned forward, "First day here and you've already run into trouble. Aren't you a bit eager, Uzumaki?"

The blond snorted, "Looking for trouble is my job, Anko." He replied before turning around and walking back to where Neji and Lee were.

"Well don't make me baby sit you too!" She called at his retreating back. In response, Naruto simply raised a hand in acknowledgement as he joined his friends and they all began to walk back to residence.

The walk back was relatively peaceful. Neji had asked who the woman was and Naruto casually replied, "An old deranged aunt" which was not far from the truth. Anko did get a bit crazy and she was one of the few adults at the station who paid a bit of attention to him, even if it was during training when she went ballistic.

Compared to the days when Naruto was pushed to exhaustion from training, this day was neither stressful nor tiring. However, by the time he returned to his room, the blond was ready to collapse into bed and he had no idea why. After quickly making himself a bowl of ramen which he wolfed down in minutes, Naruto took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. He collapsed in bed with his hair still wet, and fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

"You're not still sulking about the roommate thing, are you?" Kakashi asked as he blocked the on-coming punches from Sasuke. The offensive was clumsier and less precise than usual and it allowed the silver-haired Kempo instructor to easily find the weak points and flip the younger man away into a corner on the padded floor.

Sasuke scowled and picked himself up. "I'm not sulking." He insisted. No seriously. He wasn't. He charged forward at Kakashi again, unleashing a fury of well-placed punches before crouching down and sweeping his leg under the older man.

Kakashi dodged all the attacks before twisting his body behind Sasuke. In one swift movement, he grabbed the boy's arm and twisted it behind his back, pushing him down into the ground. "No? Then explain the storm cloud that's been over your head the entire day." He challenged as he released Sasuke from his grip. The dark-haired boy was panting hard and sweating, looking much more exhausted than usual.

"I'm not sulking." Sasuke repeated as he stood up again and brushed off some dust from his pants.

The instructor rolled his eyes exasperatedly, "Of course not." He said sarcastically. He let his eyes scan the relatively empty dojo room. There were a couple of students lingering behind to chat and pack up. When Kakashi's Kempo School had their day off, he and Sasuke usually took advantage of the free room to spar. Today's spar was not on their usual schedule as the school was not usually closed on Wednesdays. However, Sasuke had insisted on spending time after the classes were finished for an extra spar with his guardian. Kakashi eyed his charge with his one visible eye, "Maybe you're scared of living with someone else other than me?" He joked, grinning.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Anybody would be better than you." He replied, scoffing. A vein in his temple throbbed at the scared comment. Why the hell would he be scared of this Naruto? The guy was probably a weak pushover who would probably stay the hell away from him after a good glare or two.

"Aww, Sasuke, you hurt me." Kakashi replied, placing a hand over his heart mockingly. "But I do wish you'd make up your mind. First you tell me you want to move out because you don't want to live with me anymore, but now you're acting like you're scared of leaving me." He grinned, his one eye curving happily. "Now I don't mind having you want to cling close to me, but it would be nice if you were more decisive."

The vein was visibly pulsing on his temple now. Sasuke resisted the urge to pummel his guardian flat into the padded floors of the classroom. No, he had more self-control and grace than to rush head-first blindly when provoked. Instead, the younger man turned haughtily on his heels and began to walk towards the change rooms. "I'm _not_ scared and I'm leaving you, first thing tomorrow morning." He disappeared behind the door, leaving a chuckling Kakashi. He pulled out a bright orange book from his pocket and began to read. Sasuke was so cute when he was nervous.

* * *

Naruto was having a relatively pleasant dream about dancing ramen bowls and Lee doing the Macarena (although the dream was ruined when Sai charged through his mind screaming "PENIS PENIS PENIS") until a loud crash outside his door awoke him from his stupor. The blond lazily opened an eye, not recognizing where he was at all. Slowly, he raised himself up onto his elbows and peered around. Ah right, his residence room – his new home. Rubbing his eyes, Naruto peered at his alarm clock and cringed at the time. 7:43 am: way too early.

The sound of something heavy falling onto the ground caught his attention and he heard someone grumbling outside. "Who the hell blocks the hallway with their crap?" The mysterious stranger complained under his breath. Naruto frowned, wondering who the hell had broken into his apartment (rather unskilfully) and had the audacity to complain about his mess? Quietly, he got out of bed and tracked carefully to the door, prying it open slowly.

In the small kitchenette was a dark-haired boy pushing over some of the boxes Naruto had stacked yesterday. One of the boxes had already tumbled off the tower and its contents were scattered all over the floor. The other boy had a bunch of suitcases holding the front door open and he was looking particularly harassed as he tried to make his way over to his room door, which was blocked by Naruto's boxes.

"Umm… Sasuke?" Naruto asked, bringing attention to Sasuke that he was right there and none too pleased to be awoken so early.

Sasuke's head whirled in the direction of the voice and his eyes widen as he took in the appearance of the other boy. It was obvious that his new roommate had just rolled out of bed as he was clad in nothing else but his green-striped boxers and his bright blond hair looked like it had just been shocked. The boy was, and he admitted this rather grudgingly, rather handsome. But he did not let that fact get in the way of his sour mood.

Leaving Kakashi proved to be rather easy as the older man did not protest this at all. In fact, Sasuke was starting to suspect that the taunt from the spar last night was all purposely done to push him to move out faster. Sneaky bastard. But this morning proved that despite moving out earlier than planned, Kakashi was not going to let Sasuke go without annoying him once more for kicks. To make it worse, Sasuke's insistence on leaving as soon as possible in the morning backfired on him as the housing office did not open its doors until 7:30. He was unable to get into The Academy until he had his keys. Sasuke and Kakashi sat in front of the office waiting for a good 45 minutes before he was able to get his keys: 45 minutes of pure Let's-Torture-Sasuke game. By the time he reached his room, his patience was already wearing thin. It didn't help that the first thing he noticed about his new apartment was that it had been taken over by boxes and he couldn't figure out where his room was because his door was blocked. His eyebrow twitched when he realized that his roommate was probably not going to be a neat-freak like himself. Drat it all…

"Moron." Sasuke spat out irritably, "How the hell am I suppose to get to my room if you're blocking the way?"

All good intentions Naruto had on cheerfully introducing himself to the brunet disappeared from that sentence. He glared at the boy, "Well _excuse _me. I was not expecting to see you until a few days later; everything would have been sorted out if you had arrived when you were supposed to." He bit out, eyeing the boy. This was who he was supposed to baby sit all this year? Tsunade must be joking…

Sasuke sighed and returned the glare. "Stop standing there and move it then." He ordered, crossing his arms and looking expectantly at Naruto.

The blond gaped at him. What was he, some kind of servant? Uchiha's were more spoiled than the file claimed. In defiance, Naruto looked away and noticed the fallen box. "Aw, geez. Did you have to knock them over?" He bent down piled the fallen items back inside the box, glad that the box didn't contain anything fragile. He pushed that box into a far corner in the kitchen before turning to his other boxes. With relative ease, he grabbed three from the top of the tower and moved them into the corner. Avoiding Sasuke's watchful eyes, Naruto pushed the large box over to join the others before straightening up and meeting Sasuke's gaze. "There, better?"

"Hn." Sasuke said, flipping through his keys, unlocking the door before dragging in the first of many suitcases.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the reply. No "thank you", no "yes, that's better"; just an indifferent "Hn". Oh he was one of _those_ people who didn't talk because they thought they were too good for it. Naruto was really starting to dread taking on this assignment (not that he had much of a choice anyway) and had a feeling that this was only the beginning of the hell. Grounding his teeth, he made his way over to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him so that he could get ready for the day.

When Naruto stepped out of the washroom, he found there was another man in his apartment, standing beside the fridge casually with his nose buried behind an orange book. He frowned. This looked familiar. Now where had he seen this before?

The man lowered his book to peer curiously at Naruto and the one visible eye widen in recognition. "Hm, I've seen you before. Weren't you part of the class I trained at the po—"

"Kakashi, won't you at least help me out?" Sasuke called as he walked out of his room. He stopped and glanced at the uneasy look Naruto was giving Kakashi. With a roll of his eyes, he pushed past the taller blond and grabbed hold of another suitcase, dragging it back into his room, accidentally rolling one of the wheels over Naruto's toes.

With a yelp, the blond pulled back and grabbed hold of his abused toes. "Watch it, bastard!" He snapped, glaring at the retreating back of his roommate.

Sasuke turned briefly to lock eyes with Naruto. "Don't get in my way, idiot." He retorted before disappearing into his room.

Naruto growled furiously, his hands twitching, wanting to strangle that pretty little neck. It took all his self-control to keep him planted on the spot. He couldn't kill the twerp just yet. He had a mission to do and it'd be stupid to kill the person he was supposed to protect. Exhaling, Naruto peered over at the other man in the kitchen to find him watching him with a curious and calculating look.

"Aren't you part of the force?" The silver-haired man asked, quietly.

Naruto chewed on the inside of his cheeks, trying to decide if he could trust this man. From what he remembered from the days Kakashi came in to teach hand-to-hand combat to the force, the man was exceptionally talented at his art and extremely perverted as he was a devout fan of Jiraiya's porn literature. Anyone who was a fan of the super pervert's boring books was shady in Naruto's eyes. "That's a secret." He replied with a sigh. He held the gaze with Kakashi a bit longer before Kakashi nodded. His secret safe, for now.

"Move, moron." Sasuke's voice snapped irritably as he brushed past Naruto, his shoulder hitting the older man's arm. "You're still in the way."

Naruto growled again and pounced.

* * *

(1) Ha, taken from Avatar: The Last Airbender.  
(2) I figured Ty Lee-styled fighting suited Neji the best.

**A/N:** Goodness, I haven't written chapters this long in a long time. I do hope you enjoy it. I'm trying my best to stay within character, but anything that might seem OOC will have reasons to them. I find it funny how whenever I write Sasuke's scenes, the narrator voice is a lot lighter and more humorous. Oh the joys of abusing him for what he does in canon. Please review – it would be much appreciated. I'm flattered that people have put this on their story alert, but it would be so great if you could drop a review to tell me what you think about the story too. Thank you!


	3. Meet the Kids

**A/N: **It seems as if I'm doing pretty well when it comes to writing at the moment. I don't know how long this smooth sailing will last. I have to start working on the essay I have due in a week, as well as study for that exam coming up on Wednesday. And then after that, I have one more paper and two more exams before I finish school. TT

I'm pretty pleased with how the story's going and how the chapters are looking. I have a general overview of what happens, so right now, I'm figuring out the details with each chapter I plot out. I am open to suggestions of what you want to see in regards to Naruto/Sasuke's relationship (That's not plotted out yet so pile me with the fluff, if you really want it. I am completely open to ideas of what they could do to each other to get on the other's nerves… there's only so much creativity I can chug out for them so please help.), other relationships (Do you want to see everybody and their mother chasing after Naruto or do you want distinct _other_ pairs?), and other details (Any events you want to see, such as parties, clubbing, or class time etc.?). It would be so nice to hear what you guys as readers would like to see in the fic and I'll work that in. I'll give you full credits, of course.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own. Dammit.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed.

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter Two: Meet the Kids_

* * *

The rest of the morning in room 406 continued on in stormy silence with both Naruto and Sasuke sporting identical bruises on their left eye. Although the fight was inevitable, what they did not expect was for the other to be relatively skilful when it came to hand-to-hand combat. At the first skilful block, Naruto's blue eyes widen and Sasuke's smirk grew. But Naruto also flawlessly blocked Sasuke's oncoming punches and both boys were left surprised. Sasuke was quick, however, and took advantage of Naruto's surprise to sock him in the eye. Naruto's next onslaught of offensive eventually landed an identical injury on Sasuke's face before the two were pulled apart by Kakashi.

"Maa maa," He drawled with an amused look as the two glared heatedly at one another. "I know you two are eager to get physical with each other, but can't you wait until you at least unpack?" He teased with a smirk, watching with satisfaction as the two sprang apart even further and tossed immature glares at Kakashi for his unneeded implications.

"Che," scoffed Sasuke, brushing off dust from his pants gracefully. He eyed his guardian disdainfully, "Why are you still here?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled, "Eager to be alone with Naruto?" He quickly dodged the shoe Sasuke launched at his head and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, I'm leaving. Your food crate is outside, Sasuke. Later." And he disappeared promptly around the corner, leaving Sasuke and Naruto in bitter, uncomfortable silence.

"Bastard." Naruto snapped as he touched his eye gingerly and made his way over to the freezer where he got out an ice pack. He placed it over his eye before marching back into his room, slamming the door behind him.

Sasuke's voice was heard through the thin walls, "You better get your boxes out of the kitchen soon; you're blocking the stove." Naruto answered by throwing his pillow hard at the door.

The silence that Sasuke was expecting to dwell in peacefully for _at least _a few minutes was ruined when music blasted out of Naruto's room, the bass of his speakers pounding heavily in the floor and walls. Sasuke gritted his teeth, trying to decide if he rather strangle the moron or slowly rip apart his limbs one by one. Never had he met anybody as infuriating, as _idiotic_ as this roommate of his – and they haven't even been together for more than an hour! He needed a roommate change – _now_.

The brunet stomped over to Naruto's door and began to pound on it furiously. "Oi, moron, turn it down!" He yelled. There was no way Naruto could not hear him, even through his deafening bass. But of course, as predicted, Naruto ignored him, even though Sasuke was quite sure he heard him just fine. Wait, did he just turn it up even louder? Sasuke narrowed his eyes before gripping the doorknob, turning it, only to find that the idiot had locked the door. He rattled it uselessly a couple more times before kicking the door furiously. He was really tempted to kick the whole door down, but he didn't fancy the large bill that would come with it if housing found out.

Feeling extremely frustrated, Sasuke stormed away from the blaring noise and went out to drag the food crate inside. As he stocked up the fridge with his food, the boy found himself unconsciously nodding to the beat of Naruto's music. It wasn't something he usually listened to, finding the music uncomfortably loud and the occasional screaming unnecessary, but it wasn't _bad_. Sasuke grimaced when he caught his foot tapping to the bass and immediately he stopped. He was still angry and irritated and no stupid idiot's music was going to make him relax. Grumbling under his breath, Sasuke pushed aside Naruto's boxes and pulled out the frying pan, ready to make his first meal away from Kakashi.

Aside from meeting his spoiled, stuck-up, and downright mean roommate, Naruto was having a good morning. The grin on his face widened considerably when he heard Sasuke banging on his door, complaining about his music. He was pleased to hear that he was successfully pissing off his roommate and there was nothing Sasuke could do about it. Revenge was sweet, oh yes. Casually, Naruto tossed the ice pack onto his bed, now done with it. His eye was swelling down and the bruising was fading away. Ever since he was a child, he always had been a quick healer. He didn't understand it – it was almost unnatural. Tsunade couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, which said a lot as Naruto thought Tsunade was the best doctor in the world.

Sasuke stopped trying to break down his door and Naruto smirked triumphantly. The score was currently Naruto – 1, Sasuke – 0. Unless you count the bruises: then Naruto – 2, Sasuke -1. But then again, Naruto's bruise was fading anyway, so Naruto – 3, Sasuke – 1. Heh. Victory was sweet.

The blond quickly changed into a comfortable set of clothes, tossing the towel he had used to dry his hair onto the bed. He was about to pull out that file on Sasuke (he had to get around to reading that some time soon) when a shrill beeping sounded from outside, piercing through his blasting music. Fearing the worst, Naruto threw open his door and peered around the messy kitchen frantically. "What happened?" He yelled over all the noise.

No flooding, no fire, no evil thugs breaking in; the only thing Naruto saw that was unusual was the figure of Sasuke fanning the ceiling with an orange binder (Naruto's obviously). Sasuke turned to Naruto and scowled darkly, "Will you turn down your fucking music?" He snapped as he continued fanning. Naruto's eyes trailed to where he was sweeping around the air: it was the smoke alarm.

A knowing grin stretched over his face, "You set off the smoke detector?" He asked.

"Music!" Sasuke ordered as the beeping finally died. He threw the binder onto the floor and stomped back to the stove where he turned on the fan.

Naruto grinned and raised his hands, "Alright, alright." He stepped inside his room briefly to turn down the volume before joining Sasuke in the kitchens. "So… I didn't realize you were a bad cook. What did you burn?"

The blond could practically see Sasuke's pride being beaten up by his mockeries. "I didn't burn _anything_." Sasuke replied, gritting his teeth as he flipped his scrambled egg, skilfully adding in a pinch of salt and pepper. "The stupid thing is sensitive. It started beeping when the oil began to heat up." (1)

"That's what you get for cooking." Naruto retorted as he filled up the hot water boiler and set it to boil on its stand.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. He was visibly restraining himself from jumping the other boy and pummelling his head in. Strangling him would be _really_ satisfying right about now. "What are _you_ eating for breakfast then, moron?"

The older boy grinned and fished out a ramen cup from his cupboard and waved it in front of his roommate's face. "Ramen" He replied simply.

"That's not breakfast, idiot." Sasuke replied, scrunching up his nose disdainfully.

Naruto shrugged, "It is to me." He ripped off the plastic wrapping and prepared it just how he liked it.

Sasuke continued to eye him critically, "Where's your bruise?" He asked with a frown. His own eye was still smarting and swollen, but Naruto's eye looked nearly healed.

"Oh, I heal fast." The blond replied with a grin. The water had finished boiling by then and he poured it into the bowl and covered it. Then he turned and smirked superiorly at Sasuke. "See? At least _I_ don't set off the smoke alarm."

Naruto – 4, Sasuke – 1.

Something inside Sasuke snapped and his eyes flashed furiously as he leaped towards Naruto with a fist. The blond hastily stepped aside to avoid getting punched again before grabbing a fistful of the other boy's shirt, pulling him back. Sasuke twisted around, lacing his arms under Naruto's shoulder. He kicked the back of his knees so that they buckled in and forced them down on the floor. The two grappled and wrestled furiously on the floor of the kitchen, each trying to roll on top and hit the other in the face. Sasuke managed one hit in and Naruto's nose began to bleed. "Oh don't worry, you heal fast." He snarled nastily. Naruto – 4, Sasuke – 2. Furious, the blond bucked his hips and threw Sasuke into the chairs before getting up and pouncing right back on top of him.

Too busy with their tussle, neither of the boys heard the sharp knock on the front door nor the voice of Neji calling out Naruto's name. It was only when Neji stepped inside and sharply called them to attention did they stop. "_Naruto!_" Neji shouted, instantly putting a pause to the fight on the floor. Both looked up; Naruto was currently straddling Sasuke's hips and both of them were gripping the front of each other's shirts tightly. Naruto's bloody nose had already stopped dripping. "What's going on?" Neji asked coldly.

Before any of them could reply, Lee popped in and took one look at them. "Oh how beautiful young love is!" He shouted with a hand over his heart. "Naruto, I knew you were the type to openly show your love! Can you not _feel_ the springtime of youth in this cozy kitchen, Neji?"

"It's autumn, Lee." Neji replied, bluntly.

"What love?" Naruto added, snappishly, glaring harshly at Sasuke who only returned the glare, "I _hate_ this guy!"

However, the smell of burning and the shrill beeping of the alarm interrupted any chance of the fight restarting. Sasuke cursed under his breath and threw Naruto off of him while Lee grabbed the same binder on the floor and began to fan the smoke detector. Sasuke rushed over to the stove and moved his frying pan to an unused stove ring. He peered under his eggs with a spatula with a scowl. "Dammit, moron, you made me burn my eggs."

Naruto scoffed at this, "I didn't make you! You're the one who decided to jump me first!" He rushed over to his ramen bowl and gave a small wail. "Aww, you made me let my noodles get all soggy!"

"I didn't make you; you're the one who provoked me first!"

"Yeah? Well… you're a bastard!"

Neji sighed and massaged his temple. He hadn't expected his morning to start out so noisily. In fact, he was hoping to be able to sleep in a bit before meeting some of the new residents moving in today. However, the noise that came from Naruto's apartment completely dashed away all hopes of sleeping peacefully for at least a half hour more. The screaming and yelling was one thing, the music only added on to the massive headache that was forming, but then the beeping of the alarm just about crossed the line. His irritation was even worse when he had entered the kitchen to find that he would have to play peacemaker with the two boys.

"Look." He said in a tired voice. "Can you guys please just eat your breakfast quietly before I kill you both?"

Sasuke and Naruto stopped their bickering to eye Neji warily. "Who are you?" The brunet decided to ask, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Neji sighed, "I'm Neji, your don." He held out his hand politely to Sasuke who shook it.

"Sasuke."

"I'm Rock Lee! I'm the don for the floor above you!" Lee piped in, flashing Sasuke a thumbs-up and the same blinding grin he seemed to give everybody. Now that it was lighter, Naruto now could see Lee more clearly. His hair truly was bowl- shaped cut and his clothes were all a deep green (and a little tight). He also had _extremely _thick eyebrows. Sasuke nodded stiffly at Lee before turning back to his charred egg. He dumped it out in the garbage and began to start again. Naruto grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the drawer and began to wolf down his soggy noodles with practised skill.

Neji eyed the silent pair for a moment, "There are two other people who are moving in later this afternoon so if you two aren't busy, would you help them move their stuff in?"

"Sorry, I'm busy." Sasuke immediately cut in, his back to Neji.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, bastard – what could you possibly be so busy with that you can't lend a helping hand?"

The brunet glared at him, "I have my own things to sort out here."

"Che, so do I. But that can wait, can't it? Come on, it'll be fun meeting new people!" Naruto continued pestering his roommate. He had to stick close to Sasuke anyway, whether he liked it or not.

"I'm not going!"

* * *

Sasuke didn't know how Naruto had managed to drag him along, but he did. Naruto – 5, Sasuke – 2 (he was losing dreadfully), and soon, he found himself carrying some heavy boxes and suitcases up to the fourth floor with the other three guys who had somehow conned him into being helpful. He tried not to grumble; instead, he squeezed himself into the corner of the elevator, glaring icily at anyone who tried to engage him in meaningless conversation, like that blonde girl who had immediately latched herself onto him once Neji introduced them all to each other.

The other guy who was moving in was like Naruto: aggressive in actions and personality, but had a much more obnoxious and egotistical attitude. He also had interesting red triangle tattoos on his face. Sasuke couldn't remember their names and the introductions, and he didn't bother to try and find them out. Both the girl and the guy were too obnoxious and annoying for him to care.

"Oi, dog-breath! Where do you want this?"

Of course, Naruto and "dog-breath" had already become such good friends that they didn't bother using their real names anymore.

As Naruto and Lee helped out "dog-breath" with his luggage, Sasuke and Neji carried the girl's things to her room, which was only two doors down from Sasuke's own room. The blonde unlocked the front door and allowed the two boys to follow her inside. "Ino, where do you want your boxes?" Neji asked politely. Ah, a name, finally.

Ino waved her hand casually around the kitchen, "Oh, anywhere is fine, Neji. Thank you so much!" She gushed. Ino had a lot of baggage and half of it was still waiting downstairs for them to bring it up. Her dad was following closely behind with a couple more suitcases. Sasuke mutely stacked his boxes on top of the one Neji just set down. "Thank you, Sasuke! You're so kind."

"Hn." He replied, turning away and heading outside. He might as well start bringing up the other half of her crap. He walked sullenly past "dog-breath's" room where he could hear Naruto talking loudly to the other boys.

"He's such a jerk! You'd think someone would at least have the decency to introduce themselves properly to each other, but noooo, he just had to be a bastard. I hope you get better luck with your roommate." Naruto complained loudly, and Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Did the guy have nothing else to complain about except for him? Not that Sasuke could really blame him; he hadn't been a good roommate and the two of them had gotten off to a really bad start. Not that he cared either. Sasuke continued walking, ignoring Naruto's obnoxious voice (or at least ignoring it as best as he can). Unconsciously, he began to speed up his pace when he heard Ino calling out after him.

Naruto waved his arms around dramatically as he explained to Kiba all about Sasuke and how he was the biggest jerk in the world. He had bonded instantly with the boy, finding somebody who he could finally relate to (and complain to). It was nice to finally have real friends (okay, not counting Sai, supposedly…) and Naruto was really having a lot of fun just hanging out with people his age. The blond dragged another luggage inside the kitchen and dumped it by Kiba's door. "By the way, Kiba, aren't you hot or anything?" He pointed to the thick white coat Kiba was currently wearing, zipped up with the hood up.

Kiba grinned uncertainly, "Ah ha, no I'm fine!" Lee sneezed and rubbed his eyes, looking extremely sick. The other two boys looked at him worriedly. "You okay, eyebrow man?" Kiba asked, patting Lee on the shoulder.

The boy shook his head and sneezed again. "I think I'm allergic to something here." He said miserably.

Naruto frowned and was about to speak when the front of Kiba's shirt _moved_. Both Lee and Naruto sprang back in surprise when the bulge began to wiggle and bark. Kiba grumbled and reluctantly unzipped the top of his coat, allowing the head of a cute, white dog to pop out from underneath. "Gaaah, what is that?" Naruto yelled, pointing at it accusingly.

Lee backed up even farther, "A dog! Oh no, I'm allergic to dogs!" He cried tragically. He raced out of the room.

"Kiba, you can't bring that here!" Naruto whispered furiously, watching as the dog barked happily and began to wiggle some more, obviously wanting to get out of the coat and run around.

The dog lover glared at Naruto, "Well, why do you think Akamaru's under my jacket?" He hissed back. "I can't leave him behind – he's like my other half!"

"Animals aren't allowed here! And Lee's allergic!"

Kiba looked so torn and upset and Naruto backed off, chewing at his lower lip hesitantly. "If he was a rodent or a fish, he'd be easy to sneak in and be kept a secret, but that thing's a _dog_! It's impossible to keep him!"

The brunet hugged Akamaru protectively, burying his nose in the dog's neck. It really looked as if parting with his pet would tear his soul apart and Naruto was starting to feel really bad. But he should have known beforehand about the no-pets rule or else he should have just moved into a house off campus instead, not into residence.

"I'm sorry, Kiba, but Naruto's right." Both boys turned around to face the voice. It was Neji, looking in from the doorway. Kiba turned his face away sadly.

Naruto clapped a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, "Hey, cheer up. You can always go home and visit him on the weekends or something, right?" Kiba nodded sullenly, still hugging Akamaru tightly, "C'mon. Let's hang out tonight and have some fun. Your dog will want you to have fun here!"

It took a few more convincing words to persuade Kiba to say goodbye to his dog. Once the group of students moved in the last of the luggage, Ino and Kiba said some tearful goodbyes to family members before their parents (and dog) drove off disappearing out of sight. The group made their way back upstairs and began to idle around casually in the hallway. Lee joined them shortly afterwards, his eyes still swollen but looking relatively better. He steered clear of Kiba though, as the boy still had plenty of dog hair all over him.

"So how about we bring out the booze and get drunk tonight?" Kiba suggested.

Naruto cheered, "That sounds awesome! Neji said there's a liquor store about 5 minutes away from here so we can stock up!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and began to walk away. He didn't get far before Naruto snagged him by the back of his collar and dragged him back over. "Get back here, bastard! You're hanging out with us tonight!"

The dark-haired boy wrenched himself out of Naruto's reach and glared coldly at him. "Not interested."

Ino latched herself to his arm and pouted, "Aww, come on, Sasuke! It'll be so much fun!"

"I'm under-aged." He said stiffly as he tried to pry himself out of her clutches in vain.

"So am I." said Kiba and Ino at the same time, not looking like it bothered them at all.

They all turned and looked expectantly at Neji. He sighed and shrugged. "Well as long as you guys are responsible, I really don't mind." He smirked at the betrayed look Sasuke shot at him before continuing on, "But no drinking in the hallways. We'll have to be inside a room." (2)

"I'm not going." Sasuke snapped, finally managing to twist his arm out of Ino's grasps. He whirled around on his heels and stormed away.

* * *

He didn't know how he did it again but somehow, Sasuke ended up going anyway. Naruto – 6, Sasuke – 2. He didn't understand Naruto – one minute they were bickering and arguing, saying they hated each other with a passion, and then the next, Naruto's dragging him along to _hang out_. Why would he do that with someone he hated? Sasuke thought that he'd try and avoid him instead of always making him come out, but no, Naruto insisted on being unpredictable. It was infuriating how the blond couldn't seem to make up his mind as to whether or not they were enemies or friends.

So there they all were, sitting in Neji's living room (as his place was the biggest), drunk off their ass after several drinking games. Sasuke felt stupid when he fell for Naruto's taunts, grabbing the beer that was offered to him. The blond had teased him when he first refused. "I guess the pretty boy can only handle the girly drinks," he had leered with a superior smirk. And now, several shots later, his head was spinning and his speech was slurring. Sasuke was afraid of what might come out of his mouth (be it some foolish talk or vomit) and so contented himself in sitting mutely in his chair, observing.

Kiba and Ino were completely wasted already, both laughing loudly and swaying dangerously on the couch. Lee was a lost cause too. He wasn't supposed to drink any alcohol and Neji wholeheartedly agreed that he was better off sipping on his juice. Apparently, the boy was not a good drunk; Sasuke could see why. Kiba thought it was funny to pour a shot of Smirnoff into Lee's juice and he immediately regretted it moments later. Neji only nearly saved his apartment from getting trashed. It was just about impossible for him and Naruto to tie Lee down into his chair, but they managed it eventually. Now he was singing obnoxiously about springtime and youth, his face flushed and his eyes unfocused. Neji was pretty tipsy himself; he hadn't had a lot to drink but it seemed as if he couldn't hold his liquor in as well as Naruto could. The blond probably had the most to drink out of all of them, but he still seemed extremely sober. It wasn't fair.

"Narutooo," Ino called, waving her hands to catch Naruto's attention. "Why does Sasuke have a black eye? Did you beat him up? That's meeeean, you know."

"What? He started it! I got punched in the face too _and_ he gave me a bloody nose!" Sasuke smirked as Naruto looked at her indignantly. Naruto – 6, Sasuke – 3.

The girl simply giggled and waved off his protests, "That's silly; your face looks perfectly fine!" Ino curled up on the couch, her head on Kiba's lap, and sighed dreamily. "I think I'll go to beeed," and with that, she promptly passed out.

Kiba whistled appreciatively, "Makes me want to feel her up with her right there!" He said mischievously, a groping hand wavering over her butt.

Naruto reached over and slapped it away, "Don't you dare, dog-breath." He bent over to scoop her up into his arms causing Kiba to yell out in protest (something about not being fair). "I'm putting her to bed. Kiba, you look like you're going to pass out next, you should come along." Kiba whined and complained but after a few shoves from Neji, he complied and followed Naruto out the door.

Ino was snugly tucked into her bed minutes later. Naruto had a lot more trouble getting Kiba in bed as the guy insisted on following him around like a dog. The blond was tempted to tie the guy to his bed, but eventually just allowed him to follow him back to Neji's room. Getting Lee to bed was difficult. Both Neji and Naruto were hesitant on releasing the ropes that were binding him down. Sasuke suggested knocking him out and Kiba offered to do it.

Neji eventually jabbed at several of Lee's pressure points so that he could neither walk nor move his arms and Naruto heaved the boy onto his back. Staggering, the blond began to head up the stairs (Kiba stayed behind to bug Sasuke and Neji some more). As the two made their way onto the fifth floor, Naruto spotted someone about to head down the stairs. He had bright red hair and looked extremely young, but the serious air about him made Naruto reconsider his actual age. The boy stared at the duo and Lee grinned, "Sasori!"

Sasori continued to stare blankly before shrugging, "I was going to check what all the noise was." He said as the corner of his lips pulled down slightly to show his disapproval of the drunken display.

Naruto grinned apologetically, "Sorry about that, man. I'm just tucking the kids into bed now so things should quiet down." Lee giggled before slumping, completely knocked out. The blond eyed the don in annoyance, "Aw, now I don't know where his room is."

The redhead held the door for Naruto before he turned and began to walk down the hallway. "I'll show you where it is then." He glanced over his shoulder at Naruto and the blond began to follow with a wide grin stretching across his face. They arrived at the door of Lee's private suite and with some difficultly, Naruto managed to fish out the keys from Lee's pockets. Sasori took them from him and unlocked the door. Minutes later, Lee was also tucked in his bed, sound asleep.

With a thankful smile, Naruto held out his hand to Sasori. "Thanks so much, I'm Naruto. I live downstairs in 406." They shook hands and the two began to head back down the stairs. "So what program are you in?"

"I'm in my fourth year of Fine Arts." Sasori replied, swinging open the door that led to the fourth floor, following Naruto lead towards Neji's room. There were loud noises coming from behind the door and Naruto frowned, hearing Kiba's voice yelling noisily. When he pushed the door open, he saw a rather amusing sight. Kiba was up on his feet, beer bottle in one hand and his other pointing accusingly at Sasuke, who was sitting quietly in his seat, slumped over and looking like the brooding drunk Naruto suspected he was. It seemed as if Sasuke had managed to do something to piss Kiba off (like Sasuke pissing anybody off would be a surprise). Neji, on the other hand, was now laying sprawled out on the couch, looking too drowsy to care about the other two.

"Oi, the baby sitter says for you all to go to sleep, kids!" Naruto bellowed, his hands on his hips, drawing the attention to himself and Sasori.

Kiba childishly pointed a finger at Sasuke to Naruto and complained loudly, "Narutooo, your roommate is an asshole!"

Naruto grinned, "I know that already, dog-breath. Now scram, Neji wants to sleep." He turned to the redhead, "Do you want to put Neji to bed?" And at the look Sasori shot him, he chuckled, raising his hands up in mock surrender. "Yeah, I get it. You don't even know the guy." He sighed and headed over to his friend's side, gripping his arm to raise him onto his feet. Who knew that taking care of a couple of drunken friends proved to be so troublesome? He never had to do it before and although he had gone out a couple of times with some of the adults from the force, it definitely was not the same. Seeing as he was the soberest one out of the group, Naruto took the responsibility of looking out for the rest of them. At least he had Sasori to help him out now, even if the redhead was rather reluctant.

Once Neji was in bed, Naruto went over to fetch his roommate, pulling him roughly onto his feet. Sasuke complied but swayed dangerously on the spot before stumbling forward. Naruto caught him hastily and slung one of Sasuke's arms over his shoulder, clutching at the thin waist tightly. "Che, I didn't know you were such a lightweight, bastard." The blond murmured as Sasuke's head slumped into his.

"I 'ate you…" came the slurred speech. Naruto chuckled and he wondered what on earth Sasuke had said to Kiba when he couldn't really speak coherently anymore. The dog lover, on the other hand, although smashed beyond beliefs, was still able to walk and talk properly without support. He followed Naruto, Sasuke, and Sasori out of Neji's room (which Naruto locked before closing it).

"You really shouldn't be drinking anymore, dog-breath." Naruto said as he watched Kiba take a long swig from his beer bottle. He finished it quickly, smacking his lips tastefully and grinned at the blond.

"You fuss a lot, fox-face." Kiba replied, staggering as he made his way to his room. He swaggered through his kitchen, setting his bottle on the edge of the counter. It teetered dangerously before it fell crashing to the floor, shattering into pieces. "Aw fuck," cursed the brunet, about to pick up the pieces.

Naruto pushed him away though and Sasori helped Sasuke into a chair (who made a fuss and had tried to get to his room by himself) as Naruto went to take care of Kiba. "No way, man, just go to bed. I'll take care of this."

Kiba clasped the blond heavily on the shoulder and gave him a toothy grin, "Thanks man!" He made a face before he stumbled into his bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Moments later, the sound of retching was heard.

Bending down, Naruto began to pick up the large pieces of glass, throwing them into the garbage can. He jerked his hand back and hissed when he accidentally grazed his palm against a sharp edge. "Shit!"

Sasori was by his side in a minute. "Picking up broken glass by hand isn't the smartest of ideas, you know." He said in a monotone voice, eyeing the injury. It was a deep cut and blood was dripping freely out of it.

Naruto snatched his hand back and laughed nervously. "Yah, stupid me, heh?" He went to the sink and hastily washed away the blood, shielding the wound from Sasori's curious eyes. The blond watched through the running water as the cut began to glow, letting off a bright red light. Little by little, the wound began to close itself up, starting from the outside edge and working its way to the centre. The skin sealed itself up and soon the only evidence left that there was a wound in the first place was an angry white scar. Naruto turned off the tap and tugged off a square of paper towel from its roll, wrapping it neatly around his hand. "There, it'll be fine now."

The redhead narrowed his eyes at the injured palm. It had already stopped bleeding, which was curious. It had looked like a deep cut and would have required a lot more attention than what Naruto had given it. And yet, instead of bleeding into the towel like it should have, the only thing soaking the towel was water.

Sasori pursed his lips but said no more, much to Naruto's relief. The rest of the beer bottle was cleaned up by the older man. Kiba threw open his bathroom door and stumbled out. "Hey, thanks for your help Naruto, stranger. I'm okay now."

Naruto raised his eyebrows, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go put the asshole into bed, blondie."

Satisfied, Naruto and Sasori bid Kiba a goodnight before the exited his apartment, Sasuke once again slumped against the blond's side. Naruto turned to the redhead and smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks so much, Sasori. This one's my roommate so I can take care of him."

Sasori nodded, "Goodnight then, Naruto." And with that, he turned around and headed off towards the stairwell.

Naruto watched his retreating back for a minute before steering Sasuke towards their apartment. The brunet allowed himself to be pulled along gently and Naruto found himself thinking that if the two weren't always fighting, Sasuke was relatively nice company. He still teased him, mocked him, and put him down, but he also challenged him and made him think.

"I 'ate you." Sasuke mumbled again as Naruto opened his bedroom door and helped his roommate into his bed. Naruto can only imagine what Sasuke was thinking right now; maybe he was furious with himself for needing to rely on his hated roommate since he was drunk. It was most likely another blow to his pride. The final score of the day was Naruto – 7, Sasuke – 3.

Sasuke's eyelids were drooping heavily and it wasn't long before he fell asleep. Naruto grinned, pulling the dark blue blankets over the sleeping body. "I hate you too, bastard." He replied, smirking. The blond left the room, tossing the drying paper towel into the wastebasket.

* * *

(1) My friend lived in a residence like this and this happened to her.  
(2) I lived in residence and my don was completely okay with those who were under-aged to drink, so long as we were responsible. I tried to get away from drinking, like Sasuke, with the under-aged line and alas, people were just like Kiba and Ino. I'm going to say the drinking age here, is 20, as it is in Japan… I think. The three of them are only 18.

**A/N:** So what did you think? Do you think Naruto was in character for this? I hope so; I do see him as the kind of guy who would take care of his friends if they were too drunk to do so themselves. I'm slowly introducing all the characters. There's so many so it's going to take a while. I had to get this chapter out of the way before I start doing my mass studying and essay-writing. Please review (don't skulk around, D: it's not nice)! They make my day and I really appreciate all of them. I do reply to them all. Like I said in the beginning, feel free to tell me what you want to see in the fic! Thanks so much to all those who have been reviewing, you're the best!


	4. Blood Relations

**A/N: **School is nearly over, which is exciting. This took a while to write, I hope it's interesting at least. Last week, I sat down and planned out the whole story. Or at least most of it, I've got to figure out the ending. Once again, PLEASE review. I really appreciate reviews. They help me write faster too.

**Disclaimer:** If Naruto was in my hands, it wouldn't just be about the violence.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed. Violence. Gore.

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter Three: Blood Relations_

* * *

The doorbell rang clearly through the apartment twice, rousing Naruto groggily from his sleep. He grumbled, looking disgruntled as he stomped out of his room and swung open the front door. Neji stood in the hallway looking stoic, calm, and as if he hadn't been smashed the night before. "Neji, why don't you have hangovers like the rest of the kids?" Naruto asked while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stepped aside to invite the brunet inside the apartment.

"I need your help moving in a couple of people." The don replied, ignoring Naruto's question and staying firmly where he was. "I think everyone else is too out of it to help." His pale eyes shifted to Sasuke's bedroom door, which had been left ajar by Naruto the previous night.

The blond followed his gaze before he grinned, "Yeah, probably, eh? Everybody was pretty smashed last night…" He yawned, stretching his arms upwards. "Let me get ready and I'll meet you downstairs." Neji nodded and thanked him quickly before he turned and headed down the hall.

Naruto closed the door quietly and headed over to his roommate's room, pushing the door aside. Sasuke was sleeping deeply, due to the previous night's intoxications, his blankets bundled up snugly up to his chin. The blond chuckled. It was nice to see the guy look so unguarded for once. Sasuke rolled over in his sleep and buried his head deeper within his comforter, moaning softly. Assuming that the inevitable hangover was catching up with him in his dreams, Naruto took pity on the guy and disappeared from the room. He returned shortly afterwards with a glass of water and two painkillers, which he set on the bedside table. Naruto quickly did a check on the window, making sure it was locked properly before he left the room.

It didn't take the blond long to make his way downstairs. Feeling rather energetic, he had decided to take the stairs instead of the elevators as usual. Jumping down the last couple of steps, Naruto swung open the door, ready to greet the new residents.

The burning pain in his stomach was sudden and the change was too quick for his mind to process. One moment he was whistling cheerfully and the next, he was colliding head-on with another body. Snarling, Naruto wrestled furiously with another body on the tiled floors of the main entrance. He could barely hear the shouts and yells that were going on around him. All his attention was on the other boy and the dangerously sharp nails leaving deep marks in his shoulders. Naruto elbowed the guy in the gut and used the floor as his leverage to throw him over his head.

Once the weight was off him, the blond scrambled up onto his feet, ready to pounce again when he felt arms wrapping around his body, holding him back. It wasn't until Neji's sharp "_Naruto!_" barked harshly in his ear did Naruto grab control of the enraged, feral part of his mentality and push it deep within the back of his mind. Once he had control over himself once again, Naruto slumped, exhausted, into Neji's arms.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry, Neji." He panted out as he struggled to stand by himself. Neji shook his head mutely and just simply helped the young cop keep steady on his feet. Naruto raised his eyes to rest on the figure of the other man, hissing slightly as the burning feeling on his stomach continued to scald uncomfortably.

The other boy was being held back by a bigger man with chestnut hair and a woman with blonde hair tied back in multiple ponytails. The boy, himself, had bright red hair and a blood-thirsty look in his heavy-lidded eyes. Naruto watched as the boy relaxed, breathing heavily, before he straightened. Cautiously, the man and the woman moved away and the three of them faced Naruto and Neji. Once everybody was sure that nobody was going to be pouncing randomly on each other again, the man began to speak. "Geez, Gaara… what the hell was that?" He muttered angrily to the shorter boy. Gaara ignored him, his gaze still boring holes into Naruto.

Naruto eyed him back, a hand on his stomach. His seal had never burned like this before and that fact was making him very wary about what this meant. However, the initial rage and need to attack this other person appeared to have subsided in both him and Gaara, neither looking like they were going to be attacking each other anymore. With a sigh, Naruto stepped forward into the middle and held out a hand to the redhead. "Hey. Naruto Uzumaki." He introduced with a small grin.

There was a brief look of confusion in the green eyes of Gaara before apathy settled back into his face. He stepped forward as well and took Naruto's hand, shaking it with a firm grip. "Gaara Sabaku." He responded.

Naruto glanced briefly to the two behind Gaara to see a look of complete shock on their faces. Letting go and stepping back, the blond grinned sheepishly. "Um, sorry about that…" He mumbled. Obviously, he clearly did not understand what had happened either. Gaara simply nodded and he turned and began to walk towards a large pile of suitcases. Neji took this chance to stride up beside Naruto and push him forward towards the other two strangers.

"This is Kankuro and Temari. They're Gaara's siblings." He said. There was an exchange of hesitant handshakes before they began to move the luggage into the elevator. It took them several trips to get everything up to their respective floors. It turned out that Gaara and Kankuro were going to be sharing the apartment directly across from Narutos' own while Temari was going to be living on Lee's floor with a girl named Tenten. Naruto tried to help Gaara with his suitcases, eager, for some reason, to get to know the boy. He was drawn to him and he had no idea why. The burn on his stomach had subsided to a comfortable heat and his conscience no longer had the urge to break forth.

Grabbing a suitcase which Temari had identified as Gaara's, Naruto began to follow the redhead down the hall when Neji caught his arm and stopped him. "Naruto, you sure you'll be fine?" Naruto understood that Neji was worried he and Gaara were going to jump each other again. He felt a huge sense of gratitude towards his don. Although Neji did not understand what was going on between him and Gaara (who did?), he knew it was not something Naruto would feel comfortable with being questioned about. But Neji was still worried for the blond as there would only be Kankuro to stop the fight.

"I'll be fine, no worries, Neji." Naruto reassured him with a smile. He followed the figure of Kankuro and Gaara into their apartment. It was exactly the same as all the others. Dropping the baggage into the open space of the kitchen, Naruto hurried after Gaara, who had left to go fetch more of his belongings. "Hey," he called out, jogging until he was beside the redhead. "So… where are you guys from?"

Gaara didn't answer right away. His eyes stayed fixed ahead and at first, Naruto thought he was being ignored. However, the redhead eventually answered: "Suna" came the clipped reply.

"Ahhh…" Naruto replied, nodding. "That's pretty far. What's your major?"

There was another pregnant pause. The two of them grabbed some boxes. Kankuro passed them to grab the last of their belongings, following close behind them. "Psychology." Gaara replied. His eyes shifted to Naruto.

"Oh that's cool. I'm a Social Science major. My roommate's one too. He's an ass." Naruto said with a grin. For some reason, he was always complaining about Sasuke, even when he wasn't around the other man. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Hn."

The response made Naruto twitch slightly. How many people around here replied with grunts and expected people to continue on a conversation like that? The blond dumped his boxes inside the now crowded kitchen before turning to Gaara. "Well, nice to meet you. I'll see you around. Neji says everybody else is going to move in tomorrow and that there's some sort of meeting so I'll see you then." Naruto held out his hand again and Gaara shook it, nodding his head as an answer.

After bidding farewell to Kankuro, he made his way back into his own apartment. Sasuke was finally up as the door to the bathroom was shut and there was the sound of a shower running. One peek inside his roommate's room left Naruto grinning. The pills were gone and the glass was empty.

* * *

Saturday was a big moving mess. There were so many people moving in that the elevator was packed and had slowed down to a jam. Naruto climbed the stairs with some of the smaller suitcases for fellow floor mates, his stamina endless. Sasuke refused to help out, even with Naruto's best naggings. He hid in his room the entire time, trying to block out the noise of the absolute chaos outside his doors. The brunet had spent his time productively by sorting out all his belongings from his boxes and suitcases and making his room look less of a mess. But he couldn't avoid it for long, however, as Neji and Lee eventually called a meeting for everybody on floor four and five.

The two floors were considered a house inside this large building. The rest of the building grouped itself together: second and third floor, sixth and seventh floor, and eighth and ninth floor. Apparently there were house points that you win and accumulate until the end of the year; the house with the most will win some kind of trophy. Neji did not seem too particularly fond of this and said it hardly mattered in the end. Lee was appalled by his lack of enthusiasm but was unable to rouse up anybody else's excitement to win the trophy. (1)

The meeting took place in the common room on the fifth floor, a place Sasuke didn't even know they had. It was the size of one of their apartments and it contained sofas and tables and a ratty old television set. The room was filled with unfamiliar faces, some sitting and some standing. Sasuke sighed and went to stand in a corner, hoping not to catch any attention and spark some unwanted conversation. He eyed his roommate socializing. Naruto had already met just about everybody on the two floors, having helped everybody move in. Sasuke didn't understand why the moron insisted on meeting people. Sasuke liked his peace and quiet, and the only way he found he could actually get it was if he was isolated. But then again, he and Naruto were polar opposites.

The brunet crossed his arms tighter in front of his chest as he began to observe some other people in the room. He noticed a redhead, also plastered to the wall like him, with his arms crossed. One guy with his hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail was dozing quietly on one of the couches. A big-boned man was sitting beside him, munching steadily on his bag of chips. Sasuke grimaced when he noticed several of the females in the room eying him like a piece of meat.

There was an obnoxious sucking noise and Sasuke turned sharply to his right, disturbed to find someone standing so close to him. The man continued to finish off his drink before he turned to Sasuke and grinned widely. His teeth were extremely pointy. "Hey, neighbour." The man said, as he smirked at the glare Sasuke was sending his way. "I'm Suigetsu. I live next door to you. That's Juugo." He nodded to his right and Sasuke glanced up to find a really tall man standing quietly.

Nodding at them both briefly, Sasuke turned away just as Neji and Lee entered, calling them to attention. "Hn, Sasuke." He replied shortly.

The next few minutes were spent with everybody introducing themselves to the group. Sasuke didn't bother to pay attention or memorize people's names and faces. He wasn't planning to make friends or to get too chummy with anybody here. He was here to learn and to get away from Kakashi. The brunet was not enjoying the fact that he was being forced to mingle.

Unfortunately for him, Lee decided to play the Name Game after the introductions. Sasuke was seriously tempted to sneak out and leave, but Neji had warned him in the beginning that this meeting was mandatory as they'd be covering rules and announcements later on. It was inevitable that Sasuke would fail miserably at the game. What was more infuriating was that Naruto was smirking knowingly at him the whole time. The blonde was the only one (aside from Neji and Lee) who could list off everybody's name with no problems at all.

To Sasuke, it felt like forever until the meeting was finally adjourned. Pushing himself off the wall, he began to stroll casually towards the exit, ready to start fixing his dinner and to retreat inside his room with a good book. However, his plans were immediately put to a halt when someone snaked an arm through his and yanked him to a stop. Sasuke turned to glare coldly at the person who had to nerve to touch him. It was Ino, smiling boldly up at him.

"Hey Sasuke! Do you have any plans for dinner tonight? Want to hang out with us?" She dragged him unwillingly over to a group of girls.

Sasuke frowned and snatched his arm back from Ino's grip. "No, thank you." He said stiffly. He wasn't up for sitting in the same room with a bunch of giggling girls.

Suddenly, a heavy arm slung around his shoulders and he nearly buckled under the sudden weight. Sasuke scowled up at the beaming face of Naruto. "Oh c'mon, bastard; you've been anti-social all day. Why would you pass up a chance to be with these beautiful ladies anyway?" He asked, winking flirtatiously at the girls. Sasuke noticed one of them blushing bashfully, her pale eyes looking away as her fingers played with one another.

"Get off me, Uzumaki." Sasuke grumbled, shrugging the arm off.

"I understand where you're coming from calling these girls beautiful, Naruto" another voice chirped in slyly, "but I really wouldn't call a bitch like Karin beautiful." It was Suigetsu, sneering mockingly down at a dark-red haired girl with thick framed glasses.

The said girl let out a shriek of indignant protest, leaping onto her feet looking ready to slaughter the man. "Suigetsu, I'm going to kill you!" She cried, and before anybody else could react, the redhead punched the light blond-haired man in the face.

Naruto let out a bark of laughter, easing the tension that had risen in the room. "Sorry, Suigetsu, but Karin looks like she has a mean right hook." That earned a smug grin from Karin and a snicker from the injured man.

"Yeah, Karin's so violent; you can't call her a lady – OW!" More snickers were let out as Karin continued to abuse her fellow second year student.

"Hey, where's Sasuke?" Ino suddenly asked, and everybody turned to the spot the brunet was last seen.

"Tch, troublesome." Came a bored, monotone voice from one of the sofas. It was Shikamaru, finally awake from the nap he was taking throughout the entire meeting. "He left about 5 minutes ago." There was a collective whine from several of the girls.

Naruto snorted, not surprised at all that Sasuke had left. He was a bit bugged that the anti-social man had already caught the attention of most of the girls in their house. It wasn't the girls that bugged him though. It was the fact that despite Sasuke's best attempts to avoid attracting attention and people, he still managed to while Naruto had spent the entire day with others in order to attract the same attention.

He sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair. "Well, I'm starving and my ramen is calling me. I'll see you around!" He grinned at the crowd, his smile rested particularly on a pretty girl with dyed pinked hair. With a wave of his hand, the blond disappeared out of the room. Naruto's exit spurred the mumbled excuses of other people and soon the group broke apart.

* * *

Slipping a black toque over his head, covering his bright blond hair, Naruto quickly checked his appearance over in the mirror. Tsunade always said his hair easily gave him away as it was so bright and easy to pick out in a dark crowd. She also had a problem with his orange clothes but Naruto usually ignored her warnings to wear darker clothes whenever he was on missions. But tonight, the blond was dressed in all in black. This was a long-term mission and it was important that he was not discovered so early. Tsunade had specifically told him that he was not to stand out when he was investigating the campus for clues.

His alarm clock shone a bright green in the dark, alerting him that it was well past eleven. Sasuke had gone to bed about half an hour ago, which meant that Naruto would have to stay extra quiet to avoid waking his roommate up. The past several nights had alerted the blond that his roommate was an extremely light sleeper (unless he went to bed drunk). Naruto was a snorer and even though they were separated by a wall, Sasuke often was woken out of his slumbers by the noisy rumblings next door.

Satisfied with his appearance, Naruto slipped out of his room. After flicking the lights off, the cop exited his apartment soundlessly. So focused on being quiet, he did not notice he was being watched until the blond looked up. Gaara was outside his door, his arms crossed, staring intently at the other man. Naruto blinked wordlessly before straightening up sheepishly. "Hey, Gaara, what's up?" He asked, scratching the back of his head. He probably looked extremely suspicious decked out entirely in black.

"What are you doing." came the stony reply. The sentence sounded more like a demand rather than a question.

"Uhh… taking a walk outside…" Naruto said, lamely.

Gaara studied him closely for a minute before nodding briskly. "Me too." And with that, he began to walk towards the door leading to the stairs, looking over his shoulder expectantly at Naruto.

It took the blond a while to figure out what was happening before he reluctantly followed the redhead. It wasn't as if he didn't want Gaara's company… but he had something planned tonight. He certainly couldn't go snooping around the shadier parts of campus with Gaara following him. But he was thankful that Gaara wasn't asking him what the hell he was up to looking like he was going to mug someone.

The two proceeded down the stairs in silence. Naruto was going through his brain some excuse that would get him away from the other man, but he had a feeling that Gaara was not going to let him out of his sight. He sighed. He'll have to change his entire plans now. As the two stepped out of the building and out into the chilly night air, Naruto hurried over to Gaara's side. "So Gaara, where are you going?"

The redhead shrugged casually. "Kankuro told me about a coffee shop on the edge of campus."

Naruto scrunched up his nose in distaste. "Coffee at this hour?"

Gaara smirked slightly, "I don't sleep much."

"Oh." They proceeded down the street in comfortable silence. "Ah, I'm going this way." Naruto said, pointing in the opposite direction from where Gaara had turned. He grinned at his companion before starting to move away. However, Gaara's hand snapped out and gripped tightly to Naruto's wrist, preventing him from walking any further. Surprised, Naruto stared at Gaara's cold green eyes before nervously smiling. "Er… or I could follow you."

"Hn." was Gaara's infuriating response. Naruto followed the stoic redhead obediently, a pout on his lips as the boy continued to drag him along. He didn't know what it was about Gaara, but after their first unexpected attack on each other, Naruto felt a bond with the boy. It was an unexplainable connection that naturally drew them to each other. Naruto wondered if Gaara had predicted he would sneak out today…

With a sigh, Naruto gently jiggled the wrist Gaara was holding. The redhead peered down curiously before releasing the hold and tucking his hand into his pants pocket as if nothing had happened. Naruto suppressed the urge to giggle, wondering if that was a blush on Gaara's cheeks or not.

A sudden shout and the sound of something solid hitting a wall snapped Naruto and Gaara's attention forward. It came from around the corner from a small, shady-looking street. Naruto darted forward without warning, ignoring Gaara's shouts. He turned the corner and collided heavily into another body. It was just like the when he first met Gaara. It was a sudden change, too quick to even realize it. The next thing Naruto knew, his seal was burning fiercely again. For the second time that week, Naruto lost control to his conscience.

A snarl was ripped from his throat when a sharp clawed hand dug into his back, ripping through the shirt he was wearing and into his skin. The pain would have been bearable if cuts had not suddenly felt like they had caught on fire. Naruto began to yell in pain, his own hands, now bearing claws, slashing the air near his attacker's arms causing them to release their fiery hold on him. The stranger let out her own strangled, pained scream as the wind cut deeply into her arms. Naruto began to wrestle with the stranger, managing to pin her harshly to the ground. That did not last long, however, as the stranger's skin began to glow a bright red. The next thing he knew, Naruto was yelping and springing away from the touch, his hands scalding and blistering.

The blond was tackled roughly in the stomach, which immediately began to blister as well. He landed harshly on his back. After the impact, he opened his eyes, no longer the comforting blue but a fiery, demonic red, and snarled in a feral manner at the woman. Without warning, her claws attached themselves to the sides of Naruto's face and dragged them forward.

Naruto howled.

The pain felt like it was going to rip him apart and he could no longer feel anything else. His cheeks felt as if they were lit on fire, his skin literally burning where the claws had touched. Unable to think of anything else except for the pain, Naruto did not notice that the weight on top of him had disappeared. Vaguely, he heard his name being called in the distance but his face was starting to feel numb. Groaning, he sighed in relief when his cheeks stopped hurting, although the pain of the burns on his body began to take over. He wasn't sure when he eventually passed out.

* * *

Sasuke hadn't realized how living in the same building with so many other people would be so frustrating. He should have realized that not everybody went to bed as early as he did. After all, these were college kids, ready to party the night away. It had taken the brunet about half and hour to finally drift off to sleep, his head buried under a pillow to block out the sounds of Kiba laughing loudly down the hall. An hour later, some shrieks and thumping footsteps from the floor above had woken up Sasuke. The third time another random noise had shaken him from his slumbers, the brunet decided that he'll buy ear plugs the first chance he gets tomorrow.

Glancing at his alarm clock, Sasuke groaned when he realized that it was nearly one in the morning. This was worse than Naruto's snoring! The brunette sighed and flopped on the other side, closing his eyes. That's when he realized – Naruto wasn't snoring tonight. He frowned. "That's strange." He mumbled, trying not to think too much into it. He felt himself begin to drift off to sleep once more when a strange, haunting howl sounded from outside the window. Sasuke's eyes shot open, a shudder running through him. It was a painful sound and it brought back memories of a similar howl that had once left his mouth years ago.

Feeling too disturbed to sleep anymore, Sasuke threw the covers of his comforter off him, slipped on a sweater and stalked into the kitchen. The lights were off, which meant Naruto _must_ have gone to bed. But the lack of snoring was bothering Sasuke. The brunet put some water to boil and began to prepare some green tea for himself. As he waited, leaning against the counter, Sasuke pondered whether checking on Naruto should really be his business or not. He was trying not to be involved with the blond, distancing himself as best as he could before the idiot could consider them friends. But it _would_ be his problem if his roommate suddenly choked on his tongue and suffocated while he was sleeping right?

Grumbling, Sasuke pushed himself off the counter and treaded quietly towards Naruto's room. He gripped the handle and opened the door, peering inside the darkness. He frowned when he noticed the lack of a body on the bed. Naruto wasn't there. Sasuke bit on his lower lip hesitantly, wondering if he should be worried. His roommate was a big boy – he could take care of himself (even if he was the biggest moron he'd ever met). The boiler beeped once to alert him that his water was done and Sasuke stepped away from the door. No, the moron was probably over in somebody else's apartment. He was worrying for nothing.

* * *

If Kankuro or Temari had been there, they would have been wide-eyed with surprise to see their brother lose face. The usually stoic redhead swore loudly as he gathered sand and crushed granite and pieces of rock in the air and slammed the woman into the brick wall. The rubble pinned her upright and kept her in a tight hold (2). Her head knocked backwards into the wall with a painful thud before falling forward limply. "Naruto!" Gaara dropped down beside Naruto surveying the damage done. The blond was still moaning although his body was slowly falling into shock. Most of his sweater had been burned clean through and the skin of his torso showing beneath the leftover material was covered in second degree burns. All down his arms and on the palms of his hands, the skin was blistering and pus was leaking out of his wounds. His face was the worst, however. Three fine lines on each side of his face had been burnt in, the skin black and the lines deep hallows in his cheeks. Gaara was pretty sure that charred skin meant third degree burns.

This was bad – Gaara did not know how to perform first aid and it wasn't as if he had stuff to help Naruto out anyway. "As a Jinchuuriki, you should have had better control." He snapped coldly at the seemingly unconscious woman. She had started to calm down and her once feral appearance was fading away. Her red skin, which was burning at the rubble Gaara had encased around her, had lost its colour and returned to its normal colour.

Once returning to her right state of mind, the woman's head snapped up and surveyed her surroundings. "What's going on? Who the hell are you?" Her blue eyes widen at the sight of the unconscious Naruto. "Oh no, did I do that?" She whispered in horror. The woman turned her head to Gaara in panic, "You have to take him to the hospital or he'll die."

Gaara returned her gaze steadily. "No. He will survive your burns. He is a Jinchuuriki, like you, and like me."

The woman's jaw dropped and she gapped openly at Gaara, disbelief and shock showing clearly through her eyes. She let her brain sort out the pieces before it clicked. "I lost control because our bonds reacted." She murmured to herself.

"What is your name?"

She looked up and locked gazes with the redhead before finally, she responded. "Yugito Nii. You?"

Gaara turned back to Naruto. He surveyed the burns carefully. They were not healing. "Gaara." Gently, he picked the blond up bridal style, careful not to touch the more serious burns. "I will see you around." And with that, he turned and began to walk away.

Yugito struggled against the pressure of the rubble before calling out after him, "Cool water!" Gaara stopped briefly. "You have to cool the burns with water. Don't touch them though." The redhead nodded in reply before he walked away. The rubble encasing Yugito crumbled away.

* * *

Sasuke sighed as he laid his head down in the crook of his arms on the table. He had been waiting for a while now and there was no sign of the moron anywhere. The brunet currently hated himself for actually worrying for the idiot. What was worse was that he was staying up and waiting for him to come home. It was ridiculous. When Naruto comes back, he was going to get a black eye and Sasuke was going to make sure it _stays_ black.

There was the sound of the jiggle of the doorknob and Sasuke's head shot up. He stormed over to the door and threw it opened. "Moron, where the hell have…" His words died away as his onyx eyes surveyed the scene before him. Gaara glared up at him with cold eyes, Naruto, looking like he had been through hell and back, unconscious in his arms. Stepping aside, the brunet allowed the man to enter in. Gaara wordlessly kicked opened the door to the bathroom, placing Naruto inside the tub. Sasuke followed. "What the hell happened?" He whispered fiercely.

Gaara grabbed the plastic cup by the sink before turning back to the tub. He filled the cup with cool water, as instructed, and began to drizzle it over Naruto's chest. He repeated this process in silence. Sasuke watched, his eyes wandering over all the injuries on the blond. What could have possibly happened to him? Where had he been? And those burns on his cheeks did not look as if an explosion could have caused them. Besides, he'd have heard an explosion. But the streets were mostly silent tonight, except for that howl.

Sasuke stiffened. "I heard someone yell tonight." He informed Gaara. "Was that…Naruto?"

The redhead began to pour the water down each torn cheek. "Yes." Naruto let out a small cry of pain which forced Gaara to stop. He returned to pouring water on his body instead.

Sasuke's stomach churned at that piece of information and he stumbled out of the bathroom. "He needs the hospital." He informed the redhead.

"No, he can't go to the hospital." Gaara responded quickly.

"He's injured badly and pouring water on him is not going to help him heal!" Sasuke snapped back. He picked up the phone but Gaara was at his side in seconds, slapping it out of his hands.

"He needs someone who knows him well – a family doctor or his parents." Gaara said coldly. He looked expectantly at Sasuke, as if the other boy could produce such people up in midair.

Sasuke returned the glare, "I don't know who takes care of him."

The redhead scoffed, "Some roommate you are." He turned and retreated back into the bathroom to continue with his treatment. "He still needs someone. Find out a way to get them." Gaara ordered.

The brunet gritted his teeth in frustration. Just because he was the idiot's roommate didn't mean he was close to the guy. They had never sat down and talked about their parents and exchanged emergency numbers either. "Neji should have something." Sasuke said as he slipped into his shoes. He left his apartment and walked briskly down the hall to Neji's, ringing the doorbell several times. Sasuke hated when people did this to him, especially when they were just plain impatient instead of really being urgent. He heard a stumble from inside and soon, the don opened the door looking literally as if he had just rolled out of bed.

"Sasuke…?" He muttered, starting to wake up. "What's the matter?"

"I need Naruto's emergency contact numbers." Sasuke replied quickly.

Neji immediately looked more alert. "Why? What happened?"

"I don't know, but it's bad. Gaara won't take him to the hospital. He needs someone close to Naruto." Sasuke shook his head at Neji who began to ask his next question. It was most likely about why Gaara wouldn't let the hospital be involved.

Neji frowned deeper before motioning Sasuke to come inside. He made his way to his laptop on his kitchen table and turned it on, waiting for it to load. "Is it really serious?"

Sasuke nodded solemnly. "His body is covered in burns."

The don massaged his temples and swore under his breath. He clicked through his folders on the laptop before finally he reached Naruto's files. "His guardian is Tsunade Sannin. She's also his doctor." Neji reached behind him for the phone, punching in several buttons. Sasuke slid into the other chair at the table and waited. "Hello, Mrs. Sannin, I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour. I'm Neji Hyuuga, Naruto's don." Neji winced and held the phone away from his ear. Sasuke heard loud screeching from the earpiece. "Yes, no." Neji continued, answering to several frantic questions. "No, we haven't called 911." Sasuke and Neji exchanged confused looks at this question. Neji raised his eyebrows at Tsunade's response. "I see. His roommate says his body is covered in burns. … That would be helpful, thank you."

Neji held the phone away from his ear once more as the shouting began again. This time, Sasuke could hear the muffled words of "Jiraiya, get your ass out of bed!" before the phone was hung up. The older man went back to massaging his temples again. "She's coming right now and says we cannot take him to the hospital. What the hell is going on…?"

Sasuke wish he knew the answer too.

The busty blonde, who arrived no less than 10 minutes later with the car tires screeching noisily on the pavement outside, flew into Naruto's apartment with a big man, who had an even bigger white mane of hair, trailing behind her. Gaara had transferred Naruto from the tub into his bed, removed the last bits of his burnt sweater and had dabbed the water off the blond's burnt skin with a towel. He, Neji and Sasuke waited in the kitchen as the doctor went to look over her charge. Tsunade and Jiraiya closed the door of Naruto's room before proceeding on the check-up. "What the hell was he fighting?" Jiraiya asked in a low voice as Tsunade lifted the top half of Naruto up to examine his back. They both winced when they noticed the claw marks burned into his back.

"Nobody human, so it seems." Tsunade replied with a deep frown. "This is bad. Naruto's healing abilities are the worst when it comes to healing burns. It'll take him weeks to completely recover." She sighed and rummaged through her briefcase with one hand, pulling out a tube of antibiotics. She slathered it on Naruto's back as Jiraiya held him up. She wrapped the back lightly in gauze before doing the same thing to his chest. The two tucked him back into bed.

"His cheeks will be permanently scarred." Jiraiya commented quietly as Tsunade began to set up her supplies to clean the most seriously burns on Naruto. Tsunade nodded silently as she worked. "I'm surprised they didn't send him to the hospital."

Tsunade froze and pulled her tweezers away so that her shaking, gloved hands wouldn't accidentally poke Naruto in the face. Turning to her husband, she gestured towards the door. "I think one of them _knows_. That's why he wouldn't let Naruto go to the hospital."

Jiraiya shook his head. "What's it to him to keep Naruto's condition a secret? There's something else we're missing. What are you doing?"

The busty blonde had scraped bits of Naruto's burnt skin and had collected it into a plastic bag. "I'm going to take this to the lab and examine it. His burns are not normal." The doctor sealed the bag and turned back to working on the burns. In silence, she finished cleaning out the dirt and then taped on gauze to cover it lightly. She tossed her latex gloves into the garbage can before turning to stroke Naruto's blond hair fondly with a sad smile on her face. "Do you think I did the right thing in sending Naruto? Maybe Sai would have been better…"

Jiraiya scoffed. "As if Sai could befriend the Uchiha kid. You _know_ Naruto's the only one who can do the job right." He glared down at the unconscious blond. "If he'd only keep out of trouble… running into beasts like this…"

Tossing all her medical supplies back into her bag, Tsunade snapped it shut before standing up abruptly. She marched over to the door and opened it, turning to stare at the three men waiting patiently in the kitchen. They stared back in return, all with expecting gazes for news of the blond. Tsunade's stern look faltered slightly when she saw the open concern in the three stoic-looking men. Maybe the brat _should_ be here after all… "He'll be fine." She announced and the three nodded silently in reply. "But I want to know what happened."

At once, Neji and Sasuke both turned towards the redhead. Gaara ignored their stares and walked coolly into Naruto's room. "In private." He demanded. Tsunade eyed him sceptically before returning back into the room. Both Neji and Sasuke tried not to show their irritation (and curiosity) on their faces as the door was slammed shut.

Once inside, Jiraiya and Tsunade both turned expectantly towards the redhead. "Well? Spill." The blonde ordered.

"Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, am I correct?" Gaara asked, stonily.

The old couple stiffened. "Who are you?" Jiraiya demanded.

"I am Gaara Sabaku. I am the carrier of the Shukaku blood." Tsunade gasped softly before putting a hand to her forehead, sensing a migraine coming on. Sake would be really nice right about now. Gaara's face continued to show no emotions as he explained. "I knew Naruto was a Jinchuuriki like me the second we met. The bond between our bloods was activated the moment he stepped into the same room as me and we both lost control."

Jiraiya crossed his arms, "You did this to him?" He asked, sternly.

Gaara shook his head. "Tonight, we met another Jinchuuriki and the bond was triggered again. Her body defence was fire which is why Naruto is burned."

"The brat's defence is weak against fire…" murmured Tsunade as she turned to brush her hands through Naruto's soft blond locks again. Suddenly, her gaze hardened and she turned it towards Gaara severely. "Naruto does not know about the Jinchuuriki blood. We had a seal placed on him when he was a child that would suppress the powers of his Kyuubi blood. It seems to have activated since he's met his blood relations."

"He needs to know what he is." Gaara deadpanned.

Jiraiya growled. "Look, kid. You're going to tell him anyway, so you might as well do a good job of it. Just because he carries enhanced blood cells does not make him less of a human." He glared fiercely at the redhead. "If he comes sulking back to us whining about being an alien or a freak, you lose your head."

The corner of Gaara's mouth twitched in amusement. He nodded solemnly in agreement to the old man before turning towards the door, ready to leave.

"Wait." He did. "What is your defence?" It was Tsunade. Silently, Gaara raised a hand over his other arm and slowly, the layer of sand encasing his skin lifted. The sand had blended completely over his body and one could hardly tell the difference between his skin and the shell until the sand was pulled away. "Sand: your defence is a body shield…" He nodded, putting the sand back in its' place. Then he left the room.

* * *

(1) My residence did this too and nobody cared. Haha.  
(2) So, since Gaara's not going to be carrying around a gourd of sand, he has to get his material somewhere else.

**A/N:** Phew, finally finished. Only one exam left and I did well on my essays so I'm very pleased. I've finally explained what's so special about Naruto's blood! If you're confused, you can ask me questions and I'll clear them up next chapter. Reviews make me write and update faster so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!! THANK YOU!


	5. Verify My Identity

**A/N: **Thanks for all your reviews! They made my day. Hopefully I responded to them all! I'm sorry if I missed you though. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I'm falling behind in my chapter schedule, which means the story's stretching out longer than I anticipated. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing… anyway, please enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, don't profit.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed.

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter Four: Verify My Identity_

* * *

Naruto was unconscious for most of Sunday, showing no signs of waking up. He had been completely exhausted out from the attack and from being in his other form that even his breathing was shallow and he wasn't snoring, much to Sasuke's surprise. Tsunade and Jiraiya had left last night, saying they'll be back to bring Naruto to Tsunade's clinic to do an operation on his cheeks once they've healed a bit more. Neji and Gaara had returned to their own rooms shortly afterwards to sleep (at least in Neji's case), promising to check up on the passed out blond the next day.

Sasuke was exhausted. The excitement of last night had completely tired him out and he had gotten little sleep. Fortunately, there were still a couple of days left before school officially starts. He had still yet to get his textbooks for his courses. Naruto had announced to him, before getting spectacularly beaten up, that the two were going to the bookstore together as they had nearly all the same classes. Now, with the blond still knocked out, Sasuke was tempted to go by himself just to spite his roommate.

The brunet sighed as he stared at the bandaged, unconscious form of Naruto, cursing the idiot for getting himself injured so badly. It was bad enough that he had been worried, knowing how he hated letting people get close to him. Kakashi was an exception as the man had already been a close family friend since he was young and legally, the man was his guardian so he couldn't push him away until he was legal. By then, Sasuke had grudgingly grown closer to the man, cautiously trusting him. But he allowed no one else to get past the layers he put up. And now, here was his stupid roommate, welding a chisel and a hammer, easily chipping away the walls.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, wondering why the blond just couldn't get the hint that Sasuke didn't want to be friends. He had been rude during their first meeting on purpose but Naruto just kept coming back. Persistent moron. Sticking his tongue out immaturely, Sasuke stormed back to the coffee-maker, pouring him another helping of the black substance. Just as he was adding some milk and sugar, the doorbell rang. "It's open." Sasuke called as he placed his milk back into the fridge. Gaara entered the apartment and nodded silently in greeting to Sasuke before he entered Naruto's room. "He hasn't woken up yet." Sasuke informed the redhead. He followed the other boy with his coffee, quickly drinking up the hot liquid before it cooled.

Gaara stood in the small room observing the sleeping blond, his arms crossed and his face impassive. There was no way of judging how far along Naruto's body was doing with the healing with all the bandages wrapping around him. "Did you apply the medicine Tsunade left yet?" Gaara suddenly asked.

"No." Sasuke replied with a deep frown. _He_ was supposed to do that?

The redhead glanced at the clock on the bedside disapprovingly. "Tsunade said to put it on every couple of hours. His gauzes and wrappings need to be changed too." It was well past noon already.

Sasuke gritted his teeth at the condescending tone the redhead was using and he turned on his heels and marched out of the room. "You do it then." He replied, finishing off his coffee and placing it in the sink. He'll clean it later. Grabbing his wallet, keys, and a jacket, Sasuke locked his room and turned to Gaara. "I have to go out. Lock the door behind you when you leave." The brunet exited the apartment, just barely missing the scoffing "useless" from the other boy. He ignored it, not wanting to pick a fight over taking care of Naruto. He was not the blond's personal nurse. He was not even a friend.

In the end, Sasuke went to buy his textbooks without Naruto. He figured that there was no reason to wait for the moron just because he wanted to get them together. The thought of buying Naruto his books (as he was currently unable to get to the bookstore himself) crossed Sasuke's mind, but he kicked it away. It was way too nice.

Sasuke returned to his apartment two hours later after stopping by the grocery store (he had run out of tomatoes) and found Gaara still inside. "Why are you still here?" The brunet asked, slightly annoyed. The redhead was sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop, his fingers flying over the keys.

"Naruto shouldn't be left alone." Came the clipped reply.

"He doesn't need a babysitter." Sasuke retorted as he put his tomatoes inside the drawers of his refrigerator. He unlocked his door and placed his heavy pile of books on his desk.

Gaara didn't reply to his comment, too distracted by what was on his screen. After a few minutes, he snapped his laptop shut and got up to leave. "You have to change his wraps again at 5. Don't forget the medicine." He informed the brunet coldly. His voice left no room for argument – this was Naruto's healing process and Sasuke and his insecurities were not going to get in the way. Sasuke opened his mouth to disagree as Gaara began to head out the door, but he was cut off quickly. "I'll be back later tonight to check on him." And with that, he was gone.

Sasuke gritted his teeth stubbornly. He was _not_ his bloody nurse! He glanced into his roommate's room. Naruto still was sleeping deeply although a quiet snore was coming from his lips. Perhaps it was a good thing this time. Sasuke sighed and returned back to his room, picking up his Psychology textbook. It wouldn't hurt to read ahead…

It was several hours later when a small cry next door drew Sasuke's attention away from his textbook. He frowned and headed over to Naruto's room, his eyes widening when he realized the blond's cornflower blue eyes were wide open. "Moron." Sasuke called, walking over to the bedside and looking down at the unmoving form of Naruto. Naruto's eyes looked up and focused on him with a confused look. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit." Naruto's hoarse voice croaked as he tried to get up. He let out a pained cry at the movement before he gave up. "What happened?"

Sasuke frowned. "I don't know. You came in last night looking like you had gotten caught in a fire."

Naruto closed his eyes, thinking. "I can't remember anything from last night." He murmured. He tried to get up again, pushing himself up onto his elbows, wincing. Sasuke sighed and gripped his shoulders, helping him sit up. "I need to piss." Naruto said, coarsely as he swung his legs over the bedside. His legs were weak and shaky, despite being uninjured. Sasuke noticed that the other boy was wearing only a loose pair of orange sweat pants, his upper body covered with dressing. Reluctantly, Naruto gripped onto Sasuke's body for support and reluctantly, Sasuke let him. Slowly, they made their way over to the bathroom where Sasuke had no other choice but to help Naruto stand as he did his business. It was awkward and the younger boy had turned away, his face burning brightly. Naruto flushed and washed his hands with some difficulty before Sasuke helped him sit at the kitchen table. "Thanks, bastard." Naruto mumbled, embarrassed as he fiddled with a loose end of the wrappings on his arm.

"Hn." Sasuke replied as he went to get the blond a glass of warm water.

"Did you do all this?" Naruto asked quietly, indicating to the wrappings and gauze.

"No. Gaara did." Sasuke answer as he placed the glass in front of his roommate. "Tsunade gave us medicine for your burns. You're supposed to put some on at 5 o'clock." His eyes glanced towards the time on the microwave and noticed, with a grimace, that it was time to change the bandages. With Naruto awake, it was going to be way more awkward for him to do so.

Naruto's stomach gave a loud growl and he grinned sheepishly. "Eh, I'm hungry." He stated.

Sasuke rolled his eyes; telling him that was redundant since he could _hear_ that he was hungry. Reluctantly, he strolled over to the fridge and peered inside. "What do you want?" He asked.

There was another sheepish grin. "Ramen, please?"

The brunet straightened and glared at Naruto, "Do you eat anything else, moron?" He asked, closing the fridge. He filled the boiler.

"Sometimes." replied Naruto with a small smile. Smiling too big felt really weird with the gauze over his skin; the skin on his cheeks felt dry and gritty too, which made grinning rather painful. "I don't want to bother you to make me something complicated anyway." He explained, looking away and fiddling with the wrappings once again. "Thank you." He whispered.

Sasuke didn't look at him as his face flushed with embarrassment. Silently, he prepared the ramen and set it in front of his roommate with a pair of chopsticks. Naruto smiled thankfully at him once again, something Sasuke found himself wishing that the blond wouldn't do. It was making him feel uncomfortably content inside.

Weakly, Naruto gripped his chopsticks and began to lift the noodles into his mouth. They were halfway there when the hold weakened and they slipped back into the broth, hot liquid splashing onto Naruto's face. "Damn." The blond cursed as he tried again, trying desperately not to look so weak in front of Sasuke. Unfortunately, his hands were lacking their usual strength and they could barely hold his food properly long enough for his mouth to swoop in and catch it. Suddenly, warm hands took the chopsticks away. To his bewilderment, he watched as Sasuke lifted the noodles up and held them in front of Naruto's face. A lump appeared in his throat when the blond realized that he was being fed and he gratefully and shyly closed his mouth over the offered noodles. Sasuke didn't meet his eyes as he lifted more out of the bowl and held it, but Naruto couldn't help but stare openly. Silently, Sasuke fed Naruto his dinner until there were no more noodles left in the bowl.

Avoiding Naruto's eyes, he dumped out the remains of the MSG soup and tossed the bowl into the garbage can. He couldn't believe he had just fed Naruto. Something was definitely wrong with him. Why couldn't he just sit back and watch as the idiot suffered over being too weak to do anything by himself?

Leaving Naruto at the table, the brunet went into his roommate's room and fetched the roll of dressing and the medicine from the desk before returning back to the kitchen. Without another word, Sasuke began to peel off the wraps around one arm. The cloth revealed nasty-looking red burns, the skin peeling slightly and looking extremely painful. The two winced together as they gazed at the injury. "If everything looks like this, then this is _really_ bad." Naruto said in a low voice.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said you heal fast." He got up to wet a clean towel.

"I do… it's just that, burns kill skin cells. If they're dead then they can't heal me like they usually do." Naruto explained slowly. "It takes my body much longer to create new cells than it takes to just … close itself up when I get cut." He tried to explain. He never really understood how his body worked and Tsunade rarely answered his many questions about his unusual "skills", despite his best protests.

Sasuke didn't reply as he dabbed gently at the skin to clean off the pus that had collected on the surface. Once cleaned, he applied the salve over the skin. Naruto hissed as the cool medicine made the burns tingle uncomfortably. Once it was all rubbed in, Sasuke wrapped the arm in a new layer of wrappings before starting on the other arm. "You really don't remember anything?" He finally said once the second arm was finished. Sasuke blinked when he realized he'd have to do Naruto's stomach and back and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Naruto noticed his roommate's discomfort so he began to unwrap the dressing himself. "I had gone out and Gaara was with me…" He said slowly, recalling the earliest memory with difficulty. "I think I got hit with something heavy… is Gaara okay?"

"Yes, he's fine." Sasuke said. He got a pair of scissors from the drawers and snipped downwards on the dressing. It easily fell off the torso and he tossed it into the garbage can next to them. He eyed the blisters on the toned stomach. They were much worse than the ones on the arms. Hastily, Naruto grabbed the jar of salve, wincing at the quick movements. He applied the medicine on himself clumsily, biting his lower lip as it began to burn painfully. Sasuke snatched it back. "Idiot! You're supposed to clean it first." He snapped before stomping into the bathroom with the towel to rinse it clean.

Naruto breathed heavily and rested his head on the table, trying to get use to the burn. His stomach was one of the most sensitive places on his body (aside from the obvious) because of his seal. The blond wondered how he had managed to survive the pain when he got burned there. Hearing Sasuke returning, he sat back up and allowed the brunet to gently clean his stomach. His muscles quivered as he tried to keep from flinching and crying out at the same time. "S-Sasuke…" He managed to croak out. "Why are you –Ahh!" Naruto blinked back the tears when the salve was spread over his skin once again.

The brunet paused to look curiously at Naruto's face. "Are you okay?" He asked with uncharacteristic concern. Naruto shook his head but straightened up, indicating that Sasuke could continue. As nimble hands began to spread the ointment again, the blond did well to hold back his cries, but was unable to finish his question. "Your mother would kill us all if we didn't treat you properly." He replied. "She's intimidating." He pulled his hand away from the damaged stomach skin, finished.

Naruto closed his eyes, panting, waiting for the pain to subside until it was an irritating buzz on his skin. "S-She's not my mother." He said, slowly turning around on the chair and straddling the back. "Tsunade and Jiraiya became my guardians after my parents died."

Sasuke didn't reply, the topic hitting a bit too close to home for it to be comfortable. He went back to rinse out the towel again. When he sat down again behind Naruto and began to clean the claw-like burns running down the muscular back, he asked quietly, "How did they die?"

"I don't know." Naruto said in a pained voice. "Nobody will tell me."

Not knowing what else to say, Sasuke decided to just stay silent and quickly finish off treating the last of the injuries. Naruto hissed quietly when the salve began to sink into his skin. He knew what the medicine was; it had been specifically designed from his body. Tsunade had created it herself when she studied the healing process of his cells and had managed to create a salve that imitated the rapid reproduction of his skin cells. Needless to say, despite the burns killing off most of his skin cells, he'd create new ones in due time and grow a new layer of skin with this medicine.

Once Sasuke had finished wrapping up his torso (which was awkward as he had to bring his arms around Naruto's body and the close proximity made them shy), Naruto turned back around to face his roommate. "Thanks again." He said softly. "I probably can do my face myself." Sasuke nodded in response and watched as Naruto slowly got up. It seemed as if the ramen had given the blond back some of his strength in his legs as he was able to stand up by himself.

"Are you sure you're not still too weak?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his lips.

Naruto's head snapped towards him with an irritated look on his face. "Shut up, bastard!" He growled, slowly stomping his way into the bathroom. Sasuke leaned in the doorway and watched as the blond stripped away the tapes and the gauze to reveal black charred skin. It looked a lot better compared to when Sasuke had first seen it last night, but it still looked very painful. "Shit, what the hell!" Naruto cried, fingering the burnt skin. "What the hell had hit me?"

"Don't touch them, you'll get them infected." Sasuke ordered. He strode inside the small bathroom and washed the towel in the sink while Naruto continue to ogle the marks. He handed the cloth to the blond who took and began to wipe the skin.

"It doesn't hurt at all…" Naruto mused.

"It's a third-degree burn. Your nerve cells are most likely dead too, which is why you don't feel anything." Sasuke explained, eyeing the marks critically.

Naruto paused before quietly resuming his cleaning. "I don't know if I can recreate nerves." He said. Sasuke didn't reply to this, remaining silent as Naruto spread Tsunade's medicine over the burns. This time, he didn't hiss in pain as he had done with the burns on his body. The doorbell rang while Naruto was finishing his second cheek. Sasuke went to open the door, revealing Gaara and a tall, blonde-haired woman behind him. The brunet raised a questioning eyebrow at the woman. "Sasuke? Who's at the door?" Naruto called from the bathroom, peering outside while gripping tightly to the door frame. The moment he locked eyes with the woman, however, his seal began to burn again and he let out a cry and fell to the floor.

"Naruto!" Sasuke was roughly pushed aside as Gaara rushed over to the blond's side.

Naruto winced but waved away his hands as the pain began to subside. The burn of his seal had surprised him and it had mixed in with the pain from his injuries, making the usually tolerable warmness of the seal seem much more painful than it really should be. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He wheezed.

"When did you wake up?" Gaara questioned, his gaze shifting to Sasuke.

"Around 5." Naruto answered as he sat gingerly on the floor and leaned against the wall. His eyes landed on the woman who was now standing awkwardly in the front entrance. "Who's this?"

Gaara's eyes shifted quickly towards Sasuke again before he stood up. "That's Yugito Nii. She is a fourth year Philosophy student. Since you're up, we have to talk to you alone, Naruto. Let's go to my place."

It was now Sasuke's turn to eye the redhead suspiciously. He got the hint: whatever they had to discuss, he wasn't suppose to know. It may be about why Naruto had been brought back yesterday burnt alive, or why, despite his injuries, Gaara would not let them send him to the hospital. Whatever it was about, it'd probably answer a lot of curious questions of his. However, his stubbornness was preventing him from asking them if he could join, despite wanting to know what was going on. Thankfully, Naruto was the one who voiced Sasuke's question: "Why can't you talk to me here?"

"Because Uchiha is here." Gaara replied bluntly. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched at that and he crossed his arms tightly, remaining stubbornly silent. At least Gaara didn't try and hide that he wasn't wanted. Casting one last piercing stare at his roommate, Sasuke retreated back into his room, shutting the door behind him firmly.

Naruto sighed. "Did you have to do that, Gaara? We were just starting to get along." But nevertheless, he began to push himself off the floor, allowing Gaara to snake his arm under his shoulders to help him up.

Yugito fiddled with her hands as her eyes looked over his injuries critically. "Naruto, I'm _so_ sorry for all this."

The blond paused in mid-step and he looked at her with wide eyes. "_You did this?_" he asked incredulously.

Gaara tugged him along though and forcing Naruto to keep up, slipping on shoes. "We'll explain." He promised.

The three of them made their way into the apartment across the hall. It had cleaned up really well compared to the first time Naruto had been inside. Kankuro was no where in sight and his door was shut. Naruto and Yugito sat down at the two wooden kitchen chairs while Gaara drew his desk chair from his room, pulling it up to the table. Once they were all settled in, Naruto turned back towards Yugito, "You did all this?" He asked, gesturing to his carefully wrapped body.

The woman looked guiltily away. "Yes, I'm so sorry. I lost control."

"Lost control of what?" Naruto asked, frowning deeply. "What the hell did you use? Did you see my face?" He pointed to his gauzed-covered cheeks.

Yugito nodded solemnly, "Ahh, those were from my nails."

"NAILS?"

Gaara caught the blond's wrist and forced it down with a disapproving look. "Naruto, let us explain." He waited until the blond relaxed and looked ready to listen. "You are a Jinchuuriki."

"A what? What the hell is going on?"

Yugito, although feeling extremely guilty about all the damage she had done to her fellow Jinchuuriki, was starting to get annoyed at the other blond's impatience and idiocy. "Haven't you ever wondered why you have special abilities? Why your body reacts the way it does whenever it sees Gaara and me?"

Naruto stared at her before he frowned. "I'm a what?"

"Jinchuuriki, Naruto. We all are." Gaara explained in a monotone voice. "We are carriers of enhanced blood cells called the bijuu. They're the reason why you heal abnormally fast, or why Yugito's body can ignite into flames. They're the reason why everything about us is physically enhanced, like our stamina and strength."

"So… we've got superpowers or something?" Naruto asked, an eyebrow raised.

Yugito suppressed the urge to giggle at the younger man. "Ah, something like that, I guess. But the bijuu is complicated. Instead of enhancing the carrier in their right state of mind, they completely take over your body and become like an alternate personality."

"Ah!" Naruto cried, now pointing at Yugito, "Is that why I don't remember much of last night?" She nodded, now looking apologetic again. Truthfully, she couldn't remember the fight either but knew how badly the damages could be from previous experiences. Suddenly, Naruto pushed his chair away from them, a wayward hand on his stomach. "My seal, Jiraiya put it there to suppress the bijuu?" Pieces were starting to fit together in his head now – memories of his childhood and how nearly all the adults in the police force had shunned him for reasons unknown to him, how Tsunade never allowed him to attend public school, how he always had all these memory blanks that could never be filled. "Gaara … am I dangerous?"

Gaara made no move to comfort Naruto, only leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms firmly. "The bijuu is triggered when you are in danger, feeling emotional, or when you meet another Jinchuuriki. You remember when you first met me?"

Naruto gave a cautious peek from between his fingers at the redhead and nodded slightly. "You attacked me."

"I was triggered by the bond between us and your bijuu reacted." He explained. "Have you noticed how we no longer feel the need to attack each other?" Again, Naruto nodded. "At the initial meeting, the bijuu bloods must confirm with each other of what we are. To do that, we must touch physically."

Naruto snorted at this. "You didn't have to try and kill me." He muttered bitterly to both of them.

"Would you rather be molested instead?" Gaara quipped humourlessly.

Naruto flushed bright red and looked away, muttering something about a handshake. "Ah, wait. How come I didn't have this crazy blood-thirsty lust to attack the two of you?"

Yugito shrugged casually. "There's an order to us: Gaara is Shukaku, the blood that has the least concentration of the bijuu in it. I'm Nibi, the second smallest and it goes on until the Kyuubi, that's you. My theory is that the Shukaku and the Nibi are attracted to the Kyuubi because it is the most powerful."

The blond slumped down in his seat, pouting at this information. None of this was helping him convince himself that he was _not_ dangerous.

Gaara smirked before continuing, "You are powerful, Naruto, so if you do not want to be dangerous then you must be in control. It is important for you to keep yourself in check. If you are harmed, your bijuu will activate to protect itself. Our blood is precious. There are only nine of us in the world. Our abilities are designed to protect the blood."

"What do you mean?"

Yugito spoke up, "This is what the scientists call our 'defence'. Each is unique to the carrier, for example, my defence is fire. My body is engulfed in flames to prevent danger from getting too close to my body."

Gaara proceeded to show his sand armour to Naruto like had done the previous night to Tsunade and Jiraiya. "My defence is sand. My entire body is covered in a shield that prevents me from getting hurt."

With a sigh, Naruto let go of his head and held his hands in front of him. "So my defence… is to heal? That's not an element like yours."

Yugito smiled and held up her right arm, which had been wrapped tightly in white dressing. "Gaara saw our fight last night; you did this to me, but you never touched me." Naruto's frown deepened as he tried to understand her meaning. With a sigh, the woman rolled her eyes. "Wind, Naruto. You can control the winds. You cut me with the wind. If we ever see you in battle again, we might see you create a windstorm around you or something." She explained patiently.

"Well shit." Replied Naruto, slumping further in his seat.

The kitchen then launched into silence as they allowed the information to be processed by Naruto. This conversation was the answer to all his questions, this was what he had been waiting for all his life, and yet, now that it was here, Naruto couldn't help but think that he wasn't ready to know all this. He sounded dangerous. He _felt_ dangerous. He hadn't been able to control his bijuu in the past; he didn't know how to. His job meant he was supposed to look for trouble and if he was ever in danger, would he lose control and become too dangerous for anybody to be able to stop him?

Naruto got up abruptly, wincing as the sudden movement caused waves of pain to course through his body. "I need to talk to Tsunade." He mumbled and began to walk away, taking slow steps. His strength had returned but his injured body prevented him from moving like he usually did.

Yugito exchanged glances with Gaara and stood up to follow, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Naruto… you shouldn't be afraid. You're not dangerous. _We_ are not dangerous."

Silently, he shrugged it away. "Yugito, can you not see the damage you can do? How can you say that?" Yugito's eyes widen and her hand dropped loosely to her side. Without another word, Naruto left the apartment, closing the door firmly behind him.

Sasuke was cooking his dinner by the time Naruto returned. The brunet threw his roommate an inquisitive glance, frowning when Naruto barely acknowledged him before slowly stumbling into his room, closing the door behind him. Sasuke wondered what had happened at Gaara's place that had turned the blond's mood around. He returned back to the stove, ignoring the nagging feeling inside. He was not going to make the moron's business his.

Inside his room, Naruto sat down carefully on his bed, his mind reeling with frantic thoughts and "what if" scenarios. What if he gets emotional while he's out with friends and loses control and hurt the people around him? What if he finds himself in a bad situation and his bijuu acts up and he can't stop himself from killing everybody around him? What if he loses control while he was at home and Sasuke was there? He could hurt Sasuke. He could hurt everybody. Naruto let out a distressed cry and leaned forward, burying his head in his hands. Tsunade _knew_ this whole time and she wouldn't tell him a thing. What was she thinking when she sent him on this mission?

Suddenly, Naruto reached over and snapped up his cell phone, dialling the old hag's number from memory. She answered after the second ring. "Tsunade…" said Naruto rather solemnly.

"Naruto?" came the surprised reply on the other end. "What's the matter? How are you feeling?"

Naruto bit his lower lip, suddenly feeling like his chest needed to explode. He had so much he wanted to ask Tsunade, so many questions still yet to be answered, but he was afraid; afraid that the more he learned about himself, the less he'd like what he heard. "T-Tsunade… why did you send me here?" He croaked out, the heel of his free hand digging into his eye. "You _knew_ this whole time what I am! I-I'm _dangerous_, you old hag, why would you send me?" By now the tears were flowing freely, unwanted, yet so welcomed. Naruto sniffed loudly and grabbed a tissue from his Kleenex box, blowing his nose.

When he failed to continue to question Tsunade's motives, the guardian let out a sad sigh. "Are you done yet?" She asked, dully.

"Yes…" came the polite and emotionless reply.

"So what do you want me to do, brat? Do you want to come back? Do you want me to lock you up?" She demanded angrily and Naruto could hear her fist banging furiously on the desk.

"_Yes_, maybe I should be!" Naruto shouted back, furiously. "Then everyone will be safe!"

"All your life, you've been restricted within the force – you never went to public school, never had friends your age, never had the life you should have had, the life you deserve." Tsunade's voice was no longer shouting loudly and recklessly, but instead, trembled as she spoke in a low, enraged voice. "For years you've been fighting for freedom and for recognition. You've worked hard for years to become who you are and now you want to give it all up just when you've gained it all?"

"Tsunade, I can't control the bijuu! I don't know how!" wailed Naruto in frustration, flopping backwards on his bed and placing an arm over his eyes.

There was a loud crack on the other side and Tsunade cursed violently into the phone. The familiarity of the sounds made Naruto crack a small smile. The old hag had just broken another desk. There was silence from the two parties as they both gave each other room to calm down. Finally, Tsunade spoke up, "Naruto, I've been tracking your bijuu condition since the day you were let into my care. You _can_ control it – it's your body and it's your blood. And there's those other two Jinchuuriki's that you've met, right? They can help."

Naruto smiled softly, "Ah, yeah… I have them."

"You're not alone in this, Naruto." Tsunade said in a tight voice. "What happened to the brat that never gave up?"

He grinned, wiping away the tears that had soaked his gauze pads. "He's still here, old hag."

By the time Naruto got off the phone and left his room, Sasuke was finishing up washing his dishes. The brunet turned his head slightly as he heard the blond exit. "I'm sorry for the yelling." Naruto apologized with a sheepish grin.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, nodding his head shortly as he dried his hands on the towel and turned to eye his roommate critically. The blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy, as if he had been crying, and he looked exhausted. But the grin on his face seemed genuine. "Gaara stopped by again." He informed the blond.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Really?" He lumbered slowly over to the door and threw it open, calling out loudly the name of the redhead. The door across the hall opened seconds later and Gaara poked his head out.

"Naruto."

The grin across the blond's face continued to widen as he awkwardly threw an arm over the shorter boy's shoulders, giving him a half-hug. "Hey, I'm sorry for earlier." He said, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Is Yugito still here?" Gaara nodded and lead Naruto back inside his apartment.

Yugito was sitting at the kitchen table still, typing away on Gaara's laptop. When she caught sight of Naruto, her face lit up. "Naruto!" She hurried over and gave the younger man a tight hug around his torso. He yelped in pain and she hastily pulled away, apologizing profusely. "I'm sorry! Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Naruto laughed, wheezing slightly. "But Yugito, I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

Her face softened and she gave him a tender smile, which made Naruto's heart melt. "There's nothing to be sorry for." Naruto returned her smile. Tsunade was right: he did have people to help him through this. He didn't have to face his fears by himself. He wasn't as alone as he used to be. And if the time ever came, Naruto knew that he would fight to the death to protect the people around him, even if it was against himself.

* * *

**A/N: **Hooray, it's finished! So much of this chapter was dialogue, but it was necessary to explain everything about the Jinchuurikis. I hope things clear up now! If you have any questions, please ask me.

Oh wow, I really don't know where the whole fluff thing between Naruto and Sasuke came from. I hadn't planned it and then the story ran off by itself and that happened! I hope you liked it still, though. Note: it's _friendship_ that they're developing here, right now, not love.

Please review! I would really really really really really appreciate it! They make me happy and being happy triggers my muse and my muse triggers me to write the next chapter faster. Thanks everyone!

By the way, it is so good to be done school.


	6. Emergency Numbers

**A/N: **Thank you for the reviews, they were very sweet. I'm sorry this took a lot longer to get out than my previous chapters. This chapter was hard to write because it builds the foundation of the plot. I hope it's not boring though. Please read and review and let me know what you think still!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, don't profit.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed.

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter Five: Emergency Numbers_

* * *

In a dimly lit, dusty room, a dark figure sat passively in his chair, sorting through stacks of papers and files, his laptop buzzing quietly on his right. After two years of hard research, he had finally nearly completed his collection of information needed to put his plan into motion. On his desk, there were eight folders, each filled with a thick stack of paper. On the front of the folders marked the numbers one to eight. These were the folders concerning the only eight known Jinchuurikis in the world.

Over the past two years, he had managed to compile the information through various ways, whether it was by hacking into systems to retrieve medical files or by observation or by threat itself. But for some reason, he had been unable to find any information on the last Jinchuuriki. Kyuubi, the most powerful bijuu, was crucial to the plan. Its powers could be legendary, if the secret of the bijuu blood was actually known to the world. But despite his men's best hacking abilities, they could find absolutely nothing. It was as if this Jinchuuriki did not even exist.

A knock on his office door interrupted the man's quiet musings. "Come in." He called.

A woman walked in and she nodded politely to the man. "Sir, Sasori and Deidara have confirmed of the Shukaku blood carrier living in the floor below them. They await your instructions."

The man nodded in response and reached over to the thick folder on Gaara Sabaku. This particular Jinchuuriki was easy to gather information on as he did not make it a habit to hide his abilities. Although he avoided getting into fights and using his bijuu powers with a large audience present, he certainly did not try and suppress his powers when he was fighting only a few people at a time. "Although we do not know of the identity of the Jinchuuriki with the Kyuubi blood, we cannot wait any longer. Tell Sasori and Deidara that I want the Sabaku blood by the end of the year." The woman bowed in response and began to head out the door. "As well," He called. She paused to listen. "They are _not_ to give away their position." With one last bow, the woman left.

Pein leaned back in his chair and pulled open his top drawer, taking out one last folder labelled "nine". He opened it, revealing that the folder was completely empty except for one piece of paper with one name written: "Minato Namikaze". He sighed and fiddled with one of his piercings on the bridge of his nose. "You can't hide him forever, Namikaze."

* * *

The chilly night air managed to seep underneath the thick sweater Naruto was wearing, sending shivers down his spine. Although it was only September and the weather was still rather nice, it was always cold when the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Naruto was out once again, prowling around and looking for clues. It had been a week and a half since the last time he had gone out and he was still healing from the injuries Yugito gave him. He was still wrapped in bandages as exposing his still-healing skin to the materials of his clothes would irritate them further. His cheeks were still taped up with gauze. As well, Jiraiya had visited the next day to give the blond a cane to help him walk around. Naruto didn't want the cane because it made him look weak and old (and it looked better on Jiraiya anyway), but he found himself using it because he couldn't rely on walls and people to help him walk around for the next few weeks.

Leaning heavily on his cane, Naruto hobbled alone in the shadows, trying to keep as quiet as possible so he could listen in on the conversations floating around in the air. It seemed as if most of the campus knew how unsafe it was to be out at night. All the times Naruto had been out, the streets were mostly silent. In fact, sometimes he wondered if prowling the streets was even going to get him anywhere. He hadn't figured out anything on Akatsuki and although Tsunade told him that information was not going to pop out right away, his patience was running out. Naruto knew he wasn't suited for this job. He was far too hasty and it was usually what got him into trouble.

There was the sound of approaching footsteps and Naruto stopped walking and leaned back against the wall, waiting. The footsteps were slow and there were two voices. "I really don't see what's so special about the boy, sir." Naruto heard the first voice say. He could see the tips of their shadows approaching the intersection between his alley and the street.

There was a low chuckle from the second voice. "Well then it's a good thing we're not relying on _your_ judgement then." It was a male voice, silky and sinister-sounding.

The first voice persisted, "Sir, there's nothing special about him."

"He is an Uchiha, is he not?"

Naruto's eyes widened dramatically and he focused back on the voices, now much more alert. He pressed his back harder against the wall and slowly edged forward. However, the two mysterious strangers had turned the corner and were now walking away, their voices disappearing. Naruto leaned his head out and saw the retreating figures of two men, one taller than the other with long wispy black hair. The other man had lighter-coloured hair, pulled back in a ponytail. Waiting until they were a safe distance away, Naruto stepped out of the shadows, ready to follow them.

A soft familiar click by his head was heard. He froze, mentally cursing himself for not realizing that someone had snuck behind him. The blond raised his hands up beside his head, but stayed silent. The gun pressed into the back of his head. "Your name." was the order from a female's voice.

Naruto wracked his head for a name he could use before finally sprouting a name he hadn't said in years. "Minato Namikaze."

The gun pressed harder into his head. "You're lying."

"How do you know?" Naruto answered coolly.

Someone stepped in front of Naruto, his face obscured by the street lamps behind him. "Now, now, Tayuya, give the guy a break." Naruto squinted, trying to distinguish a face. The man was young, perhaps younger than Naruto, and had light coloured-hair, similar to Suigetsu's. Where were these young teenagers with guns coming from?

Another joined the first boy, his own dark hair also pulled back into a ponytail. "If you want answers out of the man, you have to play around wi—" The boy didn't get time to finish his sentence. Naruto had taken the distraction of their entrance as his chance to spring away to the side. Tayuya pulled the trigger in surprise, just barely missing his ear and the bullet shot forward towards her two companions. It hit the shoulder of the first boy and he groaned and fell to his knees, clutching at the bleeding wound.

"Where is he?!" shrieked Tayuya, spinning around frantically. Naruto was crouching behind her and as soon as her gun came closer, he kicked his leg up and knocked it out of her hand. The black revolver flew through the air and clattered to the ground behind Naruto. The blond pivoted and brought the heel of his foot to the side of her head and she crumpled to the ground. He then dashed away from her fallen body, ducking at the punch the last uninjured boy threw at him before knocking the wind out of him by kneeing him hard in the stomach. For good measures, Naruto kicked him in the crotch and the boy squeaked, falling stiffly to the ground.

Picking up his fallen cane, Naruto straightened up and surveyed his surroundings. The two mysterious men were long gone and the three who had attacked him were on the ground; down, but not out. Turning to the boy he had just taken down, he prodded him in the chest with his cane. "Who are you?" he asked.

Wheezing, the boy glared harshly at him. "Like hell I'll tell you." He managed to snap out.

Naruto frowned down at the boy, crossing his arms. Interrogation was not his forte; Ibiki would have managed to get something out of him, but Naruto sucked at prying information out of people. "Fine, don't tell me." He mumbled immaturely. His ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps and the young cop turned around, cane ready to strike. When the two figures came under the light, Naruto immediately relaxed. "Asuma, Anko, how'd you know I was here?"

The man and woman who had arrived on the scene were dressed in the campus police uniforms. Anko crossed her arms and snorted, "I think the gun shot sort of gave things away. What happened?"

"I was tracking someone – actually got a hint, but these guys ambushed me and they got away." Naruto motioned to the bodies but did a double-take when he realized that the three were now gone. "They were here, I swear!" He frowned and began searching the street frantically up and down with his eyes. "The girl had a gun and accidentally shot one of the guys with it. I kicked the gun over there." He pointed but there was nothing there. Like the three strangers, the gun had also disappeared.

Asuma crossed his arms, un-amused. "Naruto, what _really _happened?" he asked seriously.

The blond waved his arms around frantically as he tried to understand. "I'm telling the truth, Asuma. I don't understand how they disappeared but they really were there!"

Anko began to search up and down the streets, looking for any signs of blood while Asuma continued to talk to their charge. "Have you been blacking out again?"

"No!" Naruto cried, now holding his head, trying to remember. "I remember everything, there was no black out. I'm not making this up! You _heard_ the gun go off!"

"There's nothing here, Naruto." Anko called, standing in the exact spot the boy who had been shot had been dripping all over just minutes ago.

Naruto growled in frustration. He _hadn't_ imagined fighting those kids; his body was aching again because he had pushed it in order to fend for himself and the pain definitely was real. And now, it was as if the kids had never appeared in the first place, all traces of the fight gone. Asuma placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "We'll send a team of forensics to check out the scene, alright? If they really were there, then they must have done something to erase the evidence." Naruto sighed and nodded. What else was there to do?

"If that is the case, then someone is trying to mess with your head." Anko said, seriously. "Keep an eye out. Don't let your guard down."

Naruto looked away, knowing that he had already made that mistake. The surprise of actually finding a hint left him too busy to pay attention to realize that he had been surrounded from the beginning. It was lucky the kids were not exceptionally good at fighting or else he might have lost control over his bijuu if he got injured too badly. Naruto sighed, "Yeah, alright." His head was too full of unorganized thoughts and he needed time to sort them all out. He hadn't forgotten about the two mysterious men. It wasn't certain which Uchiha the man was talking about although his gut instincts were telling him that it was Sasuke he should be worried about. What would two mysterious men want with Itachi anyway? Sasuke's the one in trouble, right? "I'm heading back." He mumbled.

Once Naruto was out of sight, Anko turned to her partner. "Do you believe him?"

"I think he's having blackouts again." Asuma answered with a deep frown. "What is Tsunade thinking, sending him here? It's much too dangerous. Inform the rest of the plants. If Naruto's having blackouts again, we need to keep him constantly under surveillance."

* * *

Sasuke let out a small huff of irritation as he listened to Kiba and Sakura talk loudly over on his right. It was Chemistry, his only class without Naruto. He enjoyed not having a class for once with his hyperactive and mysterious roommate. He wondered, in fact, if it was really by coincidence that the two had most of their classes together. Even their tutorials were the same! Naruto was excited though. During his first week of school, he was both nervous and eager, keeping closer to Sasuke than the boy would have liked. "I never knew there would be so many people in one class!" Naruto had said when he had stepped into his first lecture hall and found himself in a room with 200 other people.

Having Chemistry without Naruto was a nice break for Sasuke. Unfortunately, he had this class with three other people from his house: Kiba, Sakura, a girl who lived upstairs, and Kiba's roommate, Shino. Shino wasn't bad; the guy was quiet and serious and never really bothered to try and strike up a conversation with Sasuke. Kiba and Sakura, on the other hand, didn't know when to shut up.

"Kiba, what's the point in being in lecture if you aren't even going to pay attention?" Sakura hissed as she glared disapprovingly at the screen of Kiba's laptop. Currently he had a window opened in the corner where he was playing virtual ping pong, his notes took up half the screen, and his MSN chat boxes in the last corner. Sakura had her own laptop out but she had dutifully turned off her wireless and had taken immaculate notes during the entire lecture.

The brunet grinned cockily at her. "Chill out, Sakura, we have five minutes before the prof starts up again. I'll finish this game in three." He turned back to his screen and began to virtually ping pong away again.

The girl rolled her eyes exasperatedly, "You play it even while he lectures!" She turned towards Sasuke and grinned sweetly. "Sasuke, your notes look so neat!" She leaned closer towards him to peer innocently at the neat handwriting in his notebook. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes before he propped his head up and looked away. He made a mental note to himself to grab a seat next to Shino next time. Shino and the aisle, or Shino and the wall; both were better options than sitting next to people who didn't understand the idea of personal space.

His onyx eyes drifted to the front of the lecture hall and they frowned when he noticed the professor was staring right at him. Orochimaru, the professor, was a scary looking guy with pale skin and long black hair. He often leered at the students with a perverted smirk on his face, which usually made a lot of people avoid the front row seats. But despite his paedophilic appearances and actions, he was a brilliant professor. His lectures were smart, simple to follow, and well organized. Sasuke knew that if he ignored the blatant staring, he might actually enjoy learning from the man.

Of course, there is only so much blatant staring one can ignore.

Sasuke looked away after making eye contact with Orochimaru. Was it just him or did the guy stare at him a lot more than other students? It was getting kind of creepy (not that it wasn't already to start with). To his relief, the lecture started again and the professor went back into his serious science mode. Sasuke turned to his notes and began to write, pushing away the feeling that he was still being watched to the back of his mind.

As soon as the lecture ended, Sasuke packed up his bag, ready to leave. His housemates took a bit more time shutting off their laptops and packing up their wires. He shifted impatiently on the balls of his feet before he decided to just go ahead. Why did he have to wait for them as if they were actually his friends? As he headed down the stairs towards the exit at the front, his name was called out. "Sasuke." Hesitantly, he turned around and found himself face to face with his professor.

"Professor." He said stiffly.

Orochimaru smirked widely. "Oh Sasuke, you know how I feel about people calling me Professor; it makes me sound so _old_. Orochimaru is fine." Sasuke suppressed the urge to scoff and comment that it didn't matter what people called him, he was still old. Instead, he proceeded to nod mutely, hoping to let across the message that he was in a hurry to go to his next class. If Orochimaru caught the hint, he didn't acknowledge it. "I want to know what you think about the lectures so far." He said in a silky voice.

"I enjoy them, sir." Sasuke replied in a monotone voice. In the corner of his eye, he spotted his housemates approaching, although they were hesitant to interrupt. He groaned inwardly when he saw that they had decided to wait quietly for them to finish instead of towing him away from the creepy professor like they should have done.

Orochimaru glanced nonchalantly at the three waiting students before turning back to Sasuke. "Oh really?" He purred. "You seem like a smart student, Sasuke. How would you like to help me out in my side project? Don't worry; it'll go towards your grade."

Grimacing slightly, Sasuke kept his steady stare locked with the yellowed eyes of his professor. He didn't need extra-curricular activities to help boost his grade; he was smart enough to get good grades on his own without them. "No, tha – "

"Sasuke!" The door to the lecture hall flew open with a bang and Naruto stormed in. He stomped up to his roommate and grabbed his wrist, yanking him away. "What the hell, bastard? I was waiting outside for _so_ long! We're going to be late for our next class!" As Sasuke was dragged away, Sakura, Kiba, and Shino exchanged hesitant glances with each other before following after them, leaving Orochimaru in the empty lecture hall.

A silver haired man with round glasses approached him. "Is that him, sir?"

The smirk on Orochimaru's face spread into an amused sneer. "Yes."

Outside, Sasuke ripped his wrist out of Naruto's grasp and shoved his hands into his pockets. He didn't want to admit it but he was quite thankful for Naruto's interruption. Sakura hurried along behind them. "You guys still have class today?" She asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, we've got Law and Society, but it starts in half an hour." Naruto said with a grin. "But you guys were taking so long; I had to make it look urgent." He wasn't looking at Sasuke anymore, but was now walking beside Kiba. He casually hooked his hands behind his head. "Was that your prof? He looks creepy."

"Naruto, it is impolite to judge people by the way they look." Shino stated, his sunglasses flashing in the sun as the five of them began to head towards the exit.

The blond grinned wryly at the other boy, "I wasn't judging him," he insisted, "just stating a fact."

Kiba shrugged. "He _is_ creepy-looking, Shino. You can't deny that." Shino smartly remained quiet.

"What's his name again?" Naruto asked casually.

"Orochimaru Sannin," Sakura said, tucking a strand of pink hair behind her ear. "He's one of the greatest medical geniuses in the world. It's amazing to think that after all he's accomplished, he's here teaching first year courses at the University instead of out researching or something."

If Naruto recognized the name at all, he didn't show it on his face. Putting on an impassive look, he mused quietly in his head. Sannin… that was Jiraiya's last name… He never knew the guy had a brother or anything. If he did, he and Tsunade never mentioned him. But there must be some kind of connection there.

"Oi, moron."

Naruto snapped out of his daze and turned to Sasuke, not realizing that he had actually responded to the nickname. The brunet was staring expectantly at him. "What?"

"Our class is this way." Sasuke said before turning away and walking.

Oh right, class. Naruto frowned, "Wait up, you bastard!" He called. After waving goodbye to his housemates, he hurried over to Sasuke's side, scowling. "You could have waited for me."

Sasuke smirked slightly, "Hn."

They arrived at the lecture hall well ahead of time and grabbed seats in the middle of the room by the aisle. As the two set up camp for the two hour lecture, more students trailed in and grabbed seats. Naruto turned on his laptop and waited for it to load, tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk. On his right, Sasuke sat still, elbows on the desk and his hands clasped together under his chin. Just as Naruto's laptop finally loaded, a hand landed on his shoulder. The blond looked up and grinned at the familiar faces. "Hey Iruka, Mizuki."

Iruka Umino smiled kindly down at the man before he nudged his head towards the door casually. "A word, Naruto?" He asked, politely. From behind him, Mizuki Touji smiled gently down at the blond. Both were also plants, like Anko and Asuma, placed in the university by Tsunade. Iruka, before joining the force, used to teach about law so he was perfect to place as a professor of one of Naruto's classes. Mizuki also taught before so Tsunade sent him in to pose as Iruka's assistant.

Glancing at his watch, Naruto saw that there was 15 minutes left before class started, but since this was Iruka's class, the professor could start whenever he wanted. Naruto nodded, closing his laptop and following the two men, leaving a curious but silent Sasuke behind. Once the three exited the lecture hall and turned into a secluded corner, the blond relaxed a bit. "What's the matter?" Iruka had been a long-time friend at the force and was the father figure in his life, aside from Jiraiya (but Jiraiya didn't really count, being the perverted bastard that he was). In fact, Iruka was one of the few people who didn't scorn or ignore him. Mizuki was nice to him as well, so Naruto didn't mind him too much. Often when he was younger and would pull pranks on the officers, Mizuki would be the one who let him off the hook while Iruka would discipline him.

Iruka looked seriously at him. "Asuma informed us that you've been blacking out lately."

A frown marred the bandaged face. "I _haven't_." the blond insisted. "I would know if I did… I know something had happened I just don't know why those kids weren't there anymore." Naruto crossed his arms stubbornly, gazing fiercely up into Iruka's eyes.

"Naruto, the forensics found nothing there." Mizuki stated.

The blond's eyes widen in surprise and he turned towards the other man. "That's impossible! It had been less than a minute that I took my eyes off them. There's no way they could have cleared out all the evidence in that amount of time without us noticing!"

Iruka shook his head with a frown, "There was nothing to find, Naruto. You just had a blackout and replaced your memories with something else."

"No!" Naruto shouted. "That's not how they work!" He gripped his head in frustration, yanking at the roots of his hair. Now that Gaara and Yugito had enlightened him with all the mysteries of his bijuu, he fully understood what exactly 'black outs' were. They were instances when his bijuu took over his body; the missing pieces in his memories were results of what the force called 'black outs'. But Naruto _knew_ that he hadn't blacked out because he remembered every single detail of that night. However, he couldn't explain the complexity of the bijuu blood to Iruka or Mizuki. As much as he trusted Iruka, Tsunade had made him promise to never tell anybody the secret. That included him.

Mizuki placed a hand on both Naruto's and Iruka's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Calm down, Naruto." He ordered, and Naruto did, releasing his grip on his hair and letting his hands fall limply to his side. The gray-haired man turned his head towards his fellow cop. "You're being too hard on the boy again, Iruka." He reprimanded.

"There is no evidence that any of it happened." Iruka continued firmly. He massaged the side of his head tiredly. "How else can we explain it?"

"So you blame him?" Mizuki asked, his face impassive. By now, Naruto had shrugged away the hand on his shoulder. He left through the door that led to the classroom, leaving behind the two men without another word.

Iruka growled quietly. "No… I'm _not _blaming him, but there's no other plausible explanation." He sighed and also shrugged away the hand, "Enough, I have a class to teach." With that, he turned away from the man and entered back into the lecture hall.

All alone in the corridor, nobody saw the knowing smirk stretch across Mizuki's face.

* * *

**A/N: **Please, please, please review. I'm leaving a plate of cookies by the review button. Pleeeeeease?


	7. Losing Control

**A/N: **Anime North '08 just finished and it was so freaking good. I had an awesome time and bought so much from the Artist Alley. I got this Naruto bag that is absolutely drool-worthy. The boys are so hot. It's missing Neji and Shikamaru though. D: But I do enjoy drooling over the boys anyway. XDDD I cosplayed as Fire Nation!Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender (a GREATGREATGREAT show that everybody should watch). It was so cool when people actually stopped me to take a picture. I feel like such a nerd but god, the anime convention was such a blast.

Thanks for all the reviews and please don't stop. They're lovely and really make me feel loved. I appreciate each and every one of them and I try and reply to them all. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review at the end!

**Disclaimer:** The man who created the wonderful world of Naruto has all rights to the characters. I'm just a lowly Narutard writing a non-profit story. Please don't sue me. I'm not too fond of giving up my prints and buttons and key chains (since I don't have money after the conference).

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed. Violence.

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter Six: Losing Control_

* * *

In the dark shadows of the wall, Naruto pressed himself harder against the brick, listening to the familiar sounds of the footsteps approaching. It was the middle of October now, his second month into the mission and he had still yet to uncover any solid leads. He had become so obsessed over the two mysterious men and the disappearing kids that every night since two weeks ago, he had been visiting the same spot, hoping to come across the same people again.

It hadn't been a complete waste of time though. Naruto _had_ met up with the kids again and the fight that followed their encounter resulted in a deep cut on his arm that took him several minutes to fully heal. This time it was Iruka and Mizuki who had found him but once again, the kids and all evidence of the fight had disappeared. Naruto couldn't prove that it had happened; even the scar he had gotten had already begun to fade away by the time the plants had arrived. Naruto knew he wasn't just seeing things though. Convincing the other adults about it was another issue in itself.

"The deal is still on." The familiar voice drifted into hearing range; Naruto had yet to place a name on the voice but he could recognize it anywhere now. If he heard it somewhere on campus during the day, he'd be able to link the voice with the person who was speaking now. "Once I have the boy I will claim the other for myself."

The second voice spoke up. "How will you …"

Naruto could practically hear the smirk. "It's just a matter of playing him into my hands." As the voices disappeared, turning around the corner as they usually did, Naruto became more aware of his surroundings, knowing he was going to get ambushed soon. He leap away from the wall and was able to catch a glance of the back of the two men before someone stepped out in front of him.

"Yo, Namikaze." The boy who stepped out raised a hand in a casual greeting. Naruto narrowed his eyes and was about to speak when someone softly landed behind him. Seconds later, his body began to convulse as a taser shocked him at the back of his neck. His body stunned, Naruto was unable to do anything but grunt as he fell forward onto the hard concrete. "Ukon, you arrived too quickly. I wanted to play around a bit." The first boy said as he gave a nudge to Naruto's body with his foot. Weakly, Naruto looked up and squinted, adjusting his eyes. The two boys looked exactly identical.

The second twin, the one with the taser, glared at his brother. "You always waste time thinking like that, Sakon." He said spitefully.

"I don't see why I can't have some fun." Sakon retorted, squatting next to Naruto to leer at the vulnerable state of his body. "That's what _he_ wanted anyway."

As he moved some of his fingers, Naruto could feel that the stun of the electrical shock was starting to wear off. Summoning some energy, he pressed his palms into the concrete and shot up towards Sakon, tackling him to the ground. Caught off guard, Sakon didn't react right away which allowed Naruto to smash his head into the concrete roughly. He raised his fist, ready to knock a punch into his face when Ukon tased him again, this time much longer than before. Naruto yelled out from the pain before he collapsed lifelessly on top of Sakon.

Grunting, Sakon cursed bitterly under his breath as he tossed Naruto's limp body off him and got up onto his feet, nursing his aching head. "Freak. Who recovers that easily?" He said, looking ready to give the blond a kick in the gut.

"Oh, down already?" A new voice asked. Naruto recognized the voice to be the only girl in the group, Tayuya. She was the one who carried the gun. Apparently Ukon carried a taser and Kidomaru carried the switchblade. He knew there was still one more guy in their group who gave a pretty hard right. His jaw had ached for days after he had taken it in the face once.

Sakon grinned proudly. "The twins clearly know how to take him down faster than you do." Ukon rolled his eyes but refused to comment.

Tayuya narrowed her eyes, "Says the guy who's bleeding on his temple." She retorted fiercely.

As the two bickered, Naruto was quietly recovering. However, after being tased twice, his body was feeling the shock and it was a lot harder to move. Slowly, he propped himself up on shaky arms until he sat up. "What do you kids _want_ with me anyway?" He asked in a low voice, stopping Sakon and Tayuya from their verbal abuses.

Turning towards him, Tayuya smirked widely. "_We _don't want anything," She replied. "except maybe some decent playtime."

Unable to do anything in his current state, Naruto growled softly and reached towards his belt for his beeper. However, a sharp blade to his throat halted his actions. "Hmmm, calling for help, Namikaze?" Another voice sneered. "You should know by now that it doesn't matter who you call from your little squad. No one believes you. You're like the boy who cried wolf."

Naruto froze. "Squad?"

A hand reached down and stole the beeper from Naruto's belt and crushed it in a fist. The final member of their group had arrived. Kidomaru chuckled softly from behind as he pressed his knife harder into Naruto's jugular. "We know you're not Minato Namikaze." He said, drawing a thin line of blood. "He died a long time ago."

Naruto's breath quickened as red flashes began to appear, his bijuu threatening to take over. "Stop." He growled.

"Oh?" The boy snickered loudly. "Scared?"

His vision was blurring and he could feel himself fading into the back of his mind. Refusing to lose this battle to his own blood, Naruto fought desperately to stay in control. However, Kidomaru's blade pressed between the cut, preventing it from closing up properly, was making it very difficult. "You will be if you don't back away soon." Naruto growled, his voice much deeper and more feral.

The wind was starting to pick up around them, blowing in slow circles, rustling the litter on the ground. The other four began to back away, noticing the less-than-gentle breeze. "What's going on?" Sakon asked, glaring suspiciously at the blond. "What are you doing?"

Feeling strength returning to him, Naruto gripped the arm Kidomaru held his knife with and pushed it forcefully away from his body. Seconds later, the cut healed. The wind was now cutting fiercely down the small street, threatening to knock the five over. "Kidomaru, we're retreating." Tayuya cried as she shielded her eyes from the sand flying around in the air. And without another word, the four disappeared.

Kidomaru wrestled fiercely with the death grip on his arm. "Release me!" He ordered. He let out a cry of pain when the arm was twisted behind his back and he was slammed into the wall.

"Tell me what you know." It was no longer Naruto talking, but Kyuubi, his claws digging into the captive arm. Naruto was fighting a losing battle against his bijuu and was doing all he could to just pull back the monster that was thirsting for Kidomaru's blood to be spilt against the pavement.

"Hell no." Kidomaru grunted out, letting out a loud scream of pain when his arm was brutally snapped.

"Who do you work for?" Kyuubi growled, pushing on the broken arm.

Kidomaru screamed again as pain shot through his arm. "S-Sannin!" He cried. "Fuck, its Orochi-" There was no need for Kyuubi to force the name out.

By the time all the plants arrived, Kidomaru was dead.

* * *

Naruto woke up the next day in an unfamiliar bed, having no recollection of how he had gotten to this strange room in the first place. He glanced at the clock on the bedside dresser and gave a startled yell at the time. 7:38 pm. How long was he out? He had missed his busiest day on his schedule and Sasuke probably had no clue where he was. With a groan, Naruto collapsed back on the bed and placed an arm over his eyes as he tried to figure out what he'd tell his roommate when he got back home.

After a few minutes of pointless fretting, Naruto rolled out of bed stiffly, his body extremely sore for some reason. Awkwardly, he strolled over to the mirror to gaze at himself. Someone had taken off his shirt and jeans so he was standing there in his boxers. His body was now nearly completely healed from Yugito's attack a month ago; traces of the burns covered his body as light scars and the burns on his cheeks had been sewn up by Tsunade's expert hands, leaving thin dark lines. From far away, the scars looked like whiskers drawn on both sides of his face. Only when examined close-up could one see that the lines were actually scars. Tsunade had done a fabulous job on repairing his face so Naruto didn't mind the whisker-like scars.

Turning away from his reflection, Naruto spotted his clothes lying neatly on a chair. He dressed quickly before he opened the door to the room. To his surprise, standing in front of him was Mizuki who looked as if he was just about to open the door. The older man looked surprised to see Naruto up but quickly flashed him a comforting smile. "You're awake! I was just about to check on you."

"Where am I?" Naruto blurted out, confused. Mizuki placed a hand on his shoulder and led him back inside the room, making sure to close the door behind him.

"My house. Don't make too much noise; Iruka is downstairs." He sat the blond down on the bed before he took a seat in the chair and faced him. "What do you remember of last night?" He asked seriously.

Naruto frowned, "I was fighting those kids…" He started, "One of them had a taser which weakened me by quite a bit… one had a knife and he…" He paused and placed a hesitant hand on his neck where the knife had been the night before. Suddenly the memories all rushed back to him. His bijuu had been triggered by the cut and the blood. Kyuubi had attacked Kidomaru and … "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." Naruto suddenly cried out, gripping his head. "Don't tell me… Oh god, oh god," He felt sick. "Mizuki, what happened to-"

"He's dead, Naruto."

Seconds later, Naruto was retching up last night's ramen into the toilet until he could gag nothing else out except for his own choked sobs. He cried hard, the guilt too overwhelming for him to handle. "It wasn't supposed to… I had tried so hard … so hard…" His babble became incoherent to Mizuki who was just standing in the doorway of the bathroom watching the blond's breakdown.

"We arrived on the scene too late to stop you." Mizuki explained calmly. "Your beeper had been destroyed, which alerted us that something was wrong. By the time we got there, his jugular had already been cut and your hands were-"

"STOP IT!" Screamed Naruto, slamming his hands over his ears.

"You killed him, Naruto, with your own hands – your own claws! You're nothing but a _monster!_" Mizuki yelled, suddenly looked deranged. He pulled out his gun from his belt and pointed it at Naruto. "You were born a monster! You have absolutely no idea what you've done!"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto yelled, curling up into a ball on the tiled floor. He clutched hard at his stomach as the seal burned fiercely. Tears poured down his cheeks as he fought a losing battle against his bijuu. Mizuki's words were unleashing the fear he had kept about himself ever since the night he had spoken with Gaara and Yugito. Monster… monster… monster…

Footsteps pounded up the stairs and Iruka burst into the bathroom. "What is going on here?" He roared, his eyes taking in the scene of Naruto screaming in agony on the floor and Mizuki with his gun out, looking ready to shoot. "Put that away." He snapped at his partner but Mizuki only raised a second gun in his face. Iruka froze in shock and then frowned in a disappointed manner. "What are you doing, Mizuki?"

"Avenging my parents." Mizuki answered scathingly. He now had one gun pointed at Naruto and another at Iruka. "If it weren't for this _monster_," He spat out the word in disgust, "they would still be alive. I haven't forgotten that day."

"Mizuki… be quiet." Iruka warned.

Mizuki snarled and slammed the butt of the gun to the side of the man's face, sending him sprawling to the floor. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? YOUR OWN PARENTS WERE KILLED BY HIM TOO!" He roared. "YOU TOOK CARE OF HIM, FED HIM, BABIED HIM, EVEN THOUGH YOU KNEW HE WAS RESPONSIBLE!"

Iruka ignored him, crawling towards Naruto who had fallen silent as he listened to the words. "Naruto, Naruto, don't listen to him." He pleaded. "You're not a monster, it wasn't your fault. I know you aren't a monster." Naruto released choked sobs, curling up tighter, refusing to cling to Iruka although he did not push him away.

Although slightly stunned, Mizuki glared coldly at the two, his hands shaking with anger. "Haven't you always wanted to know how your parents died, Naruto?" He asked sweetly.

"Be _quiet_, Mizuki." Iruka snarled, shielding Naruto's head with his upper body. But Naruto stopped his crying, quietening down.

Smirking widely, Mizuki twirled one of his guns casually. "You killed them too."

"MIZUKI!" Iruka shouted, leaping at the other man. A loud bang rang throughout the entire house and the brown-haired man let out a pained yell and crumpled to the floor. Blood poured out of the wound in his stomach.

"Iruka!" Naruto cried, crawling over to where the professor laid. Mizuki cocked the gun again and pressed it onto the blond's forehead.

"Now, where was I?" Mizuki asked, "Oh yes. Your mother died giving birth to you. Your father you tore apart when you were two years old." Tears rolled down Naruto's cheeks as he took in the information. Mizuki stopped to stare at the pathetic face before he grimaced and smacked Naruto's temple with the gun as well. The blond fell back down to the floor, a small trail of blood seeping from the hit. "You killed so many people that night _and you still haven't gotten enough?!_"

He should have seen the change coming. In less than a second, the large blue eyes, rimmed red because of the tears, turned red. The pathetic, wide-eyed expression Naruto had on his face before vanished immediately and was replaced with a confident, sadistic look. Kyuubi licked his lips. "No."

A cutting burst of wind pushed out from his body and Mizuki flew back from the force, his back hitting the door painfully. The mirrors and glass in the bathroom shattered, the pieces littering the tiled floors. Kyuubi stood up, smirking over Mizuki's fallen figure. The man groaned as he picked himself off the floor. Grasping the gun tightly, he fired two shots. The wind picked up again, pushing at the bullets until they clattered uselessly to the floor. "Did you really thing you could kill me?" Kyuubi snarled mockingly as he picked up Mizuki by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. "You are nothing special."

With ridiculous ease, he threw the grown man down the hallway. Mizuki smacked into the wall and fell limply to the floor. "Clearly you're just a man clinging to the past." Kyuubi continued, walking forward, the wind swirling fiercely around him, upsetting the paintings and photographs hanging on the wall. They were knocked off their hooks and fell with a crash to the floor. Mizuki was picked up again and slammed into the hallway mirror. It broke, the pieces cutting the man's battered skin.

Kyuubi brought his face close to Mizuki's and sneered. "Go on. Have your revenge." He taunted. But Mizuki was already half-unconscious. At the lack of response, Kyuubi snorted and released the hold. "You're lucky Naruto's merciful." And just like that, he walked away, returning to the bathroom.

When he reached Iruka's side, Naruto collapsed beside him, unconscious.

* * *

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Sasuke cursed under his breath as he worked on his Chemistry lab. He actually hadn't gotten a lot done since the past two hours that he had started doing homework. He couldn't concentrate at all. Naruto had disappeared for more than 18 hours now. Sasuke didn't know the blond very well but he knew that Naruto would never just leave without explaining where he was off to first to Sasuke. But being gone for so long without even a phone call was starting to worry him, much to his dislike. "Stupid freaking idiot." Sasuke muttered some more before he slammed his pen down on his notebook. It wasn't as if he was getting any work done anyway.

Deciding to take a walk to clear his head and the anxious feeling that was bottling up inside of him, the brunet pulled on his jacket and locked up his apartment before heading into the hallway. It was Thursday night, so most people were out partying out on Pub Night. It was a wonder that Sasuke was even bothering to try and do some work tonight. Upstairs, someone's speakers were blasting through the walls and ceilings and Sasuke could hear people yelling and laughing drunkenly.

Stepping into the cool autumn night air, Sasuke took a deep breath, ignoring the small crowd of smokers hanging outside the doors. The chilly air helped clear his head. He began to walk along the street, no destination in mind. As his ears picked up the faint rumble of music from his apartment building and from the nearby underground club, a loud wail of a siren pierced through the muffled night sounds. Sasuke's head shot up towards the sound, noticing that several police cars were racing through the large main street that was one of the borders of the University campus. Although curious, Sasuke only turned away to continue walking in the opposite direction.

Just then, one of the campus police cars zoomed past him and Sasuke caught the end of a yell from a woman: "…happened to Naruto!"

The brunet froze and slowly turned around to watch the back of the car turn onto the main road, following the trail of police cars. Maybe he was just hearing things. There was no way those two campus police were going to where _Naruto_ was. Although it was possible… but why would campus police be concerned with Naruto's well-being? It didn't make any sense at all.

Deciding that he had just heard the woman wrong, Sasuke turned around again and continued walking. It wasn't long before he spotted Gaara and that blonde woman from a month ago, Yugito, running at break-neck speed towards him. Noticing him, Gaara slowed down to a stop. "Uchiha, where is Naruto?" He said briskly.

Sasuke stared at him. "I-I don't know." He admitted. "I haven't seen him since yesterday night." He studied the exchange of looks between the two before he frowned. "Is something wrong? Is he in trouble?"

The woman rubbed her temples exasperatedly. "We think so. Gaara, let's go. We're wasting time." The redhead nodded curtly to Sasuke and the two ran off together in the same direction as the cars.

Sasuke remained frozen on the spot, watching the two run off. Three times he had been stopped tonight on his walk and everything was pointing him towards the possibility of his roommate being in trouble. Should he be worried for Naruto? They weren't even friends, only acquaintances. It should be none of his concern… Sasuke clenched his fists, frustrated. "Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ idiot." He growled out before he sprinted after everybody else.

The house everyone was rushing to was far, about 4 big blocks away from the University campus. Sasuke thought himself well in shape – in fact, he knew he had good stamina and everything. However, by the time he was already more than halfway there, his chest was hurting and his breathing haggard. He kept his eye on the backs of Gaara and Yugito who were still running. Neither of them had stopped even for a moment (except when yielding to the traffic lights) and Sasuke suddenly found himself admiring their never-ending stamina. But as much as he wanted to stop and rest, Sasuke knew that he couldn't risk losing sight of Gaara and Yugito or else he would not know where to go.

By the time Sasuke arrived at the house, police cars had swarmed the entire street, their lights flashing and attracting a lot of attention. Bystanders stood around the marked off area, watching the police work. Sasuke pushed his way to the front, finding Gaara and Yugito easily. "What is going _on_ here?" He snapped grumpily, breathing hard to calm himself down.

"Naruto's here." Gaara answered shortly with an impassive look on his face.

Sasuke wanted to ask him how he knew that but the warning glare Gaara threw at him made him turn away silently instead. He narrowed his eyes as medics brought out the first man out on a stretcher, an oxygen mask placed over his mouth and nose. He knew that man… "Wait… that's Professor Umino!" Sasuke said in shock, gripping the Caution tape and pushing over it to get a better look. Sure enough, the man unconscious on the stretcher was none other than his Law and Society professor.

His mind began to whirl, putting pieces together. Naruto was actually quite close to Professor Umino and Professor Touji. There actually could be a huge chance that Naruto really was here and perhaps in the same condition as the professor. Sasuke's heart began to beat anxiously in his chest as he waited for the medics to bring out the next person. Iruka was placed in this first ambulance and driven off. The next set of medics brought out another man on another stretcher and Sasuke grimaced when he realized that it was, indeed, Professor Touji. "Fuck, Naruto's really going to be next, that idiot." He mumbled to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. He watched as Mizuki was placed inside the ambulance and driven away before he turned his attention back to the front door of the house.

Thankfully, Naruto was not brought out on a stretcher like Iruka and Mizuki. In fact, when Tsunade carried the unconscious blond out in her arms, Sasuke quickly saw that he was relatively unhurt. There was a bit of blood on his temple and on his hands, but nothing serious.

"Naruto!" Yugito shouted, ducking under the tape and rushing over to Tsunade's side. Gaara and Sasuke followed her, ignoring the shouts of warning from the police who were keeping the curious audience from rushing onto the scene.

The busty woman turned towards the three students and gave them a stern look. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Is Naruto okay?" Yugito replied, avoiding the question. Sasuke barely noticed the brief exchange of looks between the three of them.

Tsunade stared hard at her and Gaara before sighing. "He's fine… he pushed his body to its limit…"

"Where are you taking him?" Sasuke asked.

Tsunade stayed silent for a moment, gazing at the face of the young man in her arms. Then she looked up and stared at Sasuke, looking thoughtful. "Naruto has been through a lot these past two days. He needs to go home."

Sasuke stared at the pained look on Naruto's unconscious face, noticing the tear streaks on his cheeks, before sighing in defeat. "I'll take him." He said quietly. Tsunade smirked knowingly before turning towards two campus police. Sasuke frowned, realizing that these two had been the ones that drove past him yelling about Naruto earlier. He still couldn't figure out what the campus police had to do with a situation happening off campus.

"Asuma, Anko, get these two back to their apartment." Tsunade ordered, shoving Naruto's limp body into Sasuke's arms. He buckled at the sudden weight before he grunted and carried the blond towards the Campus Police car. Tsunade turned towards Gaara and Yugito. "You two, stay here. I need to talk to you." They nodded seriously in reply.

"Come on, kid. Let's get you home." The woman named Anko replied as she stepped into the driver's seat. Asuma slid into the passenger while Sasuke lugged Naruto inside the back before sitting down as well.

As they drove back, Naruto's head slid onto Sasuke's shoulder. The brunet glanced over at the man and sighed, running a thumb over the tear marks. "Idiot…" he muttered. He was confused as to what had happened. His two professors were injured and in the hospital now. Naruto was unconscious because of exhaustion. From what he had seen, Sasuke knew Naruto also had an unlimited supply of energy. What could he have possibly have done to make him pass out like this? Yet, despite all his questions, Sasuke felt relieved to know that Naruto was alright.

Naruto let out a sad sigh, "I'm sorry…"

Sasuke stared silently at the unconscious man before he turned to stare out the window. "Let's just go home, idiot." Because home wouldn't feel like home if Naruto wasn't there.

* * *

"Mizuki messed up, sir."

There was a chuckle. "Of course he did. Revenge is irrational. He wouldn't have been able to follow the plan at all."

"So what do we do? Tayuya says Kidomaru has already told Naruto about you."

Orochimaru grinned widely. "That's alright. Kidomaru can tell them all he wants when he wakes up; it makes no difference in the end. He's useless to me now."

* * *

**A/N: **Review? Please?


	8. Party Hard

**A/N: **I'm sorry for the long wait. I had half of this sitting around for a while because I couldn't seem to write the other half. I hope you still enjoy it. Please review; especially if you're also going to put this on alert or as a favourite. It's only polite.

**Disclaimer:** Non-profit only. I own none of these characters.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed.

* * *

**Undercover Babysitter**

_Chapter Seven: Party Hard_

* * *

Law and Society was cancelled for the next two weeks. On the course website, someone had put up a notice for Professor Umino saying he was going to be absent due to emergency situations. The media had already caught hold of the news of Professor Touji's arrest. Although nothing had been released to the public concerning the facts around his arrest, Sasuke had already heard most of the rumours. The boy had never been one to believe rumours, knowing people just created stories to satisfy their own curiosity. However, he couldn't help but wonder about the true story. He wanted to know what had happened that night and the reasons why Naruto had been caught in an attack from Mizuki. But no matter how much he thought about it, he could think of nothing. And there was no way he could get the truth either. After all, Naruto has been asleep for two days since that night.

Sasuke whipped an egg in a bowl in the silent kitchen. The apartment was always much too quiet whenever Naruto was away or passed out. It wasn't often that Naruto would be unconscious for days. This was his second time in a month and a half. That shouldn't be normal. "What the hell do you do to get yourself in these situations, moron?" Sasuke mumbled to himself as he began to toss his ingredients together in his frying pan. With the fan blaring loudly overhead and the oil in the pan sizzling and crackling, Sasuke didn't hear the muffled sound of movement coming from Naruto's room. It was only when Naruto called out to him did he realize that his roommate was awake.

"Sasuke?"

The brunet spun around before relaxing when he saw Naruto leaning heavily against the doorframe, looking extremely exhausted. "You're awake." He stated, turning back to his cooking and stirring the ingredients slowly.

"W-What day is it?" Naruto asked, stumbling to the washroom where he began to brush his teeth.

"Saturday." Answered Sasuke, "You've been asleep for two days straight."

Naruto didn't reply to this as his mouth was currently full of toothpaste foam. He spat the foam out into the sink and rinsed his mouth before resting his head against the mirror. "So it wasn't just a bad dream…" he murmured to himself. He splashed some water on his face, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. With a sigh, the blond wiped the excess water off his face before returning back into the kitchen, taking a seat at the small table.

Sasuke finished up his fried rice, turning off the stove and the fan. From the drying rack, he took two ceramic bowls and filled them with food. He set a bowl in front of Naruto silently before taking a seat at the table with his own bowl. Naruto stared at the bowl in surprise before a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You didn't have to do that, Sasuke." He said quietly and both boys looked away, embarrassed. "Thanks though." Naruto picked up the chopsticks and began to eat.

After a few minutes of silence, Sasuke finally let out a huff and put down his bowl and chopsticks. "What were you doing at Professor Touji's house?" he demanded, glaring harshly at Naruto.

The blond looked up, confused, "How did you know…?"

The brunet faltered for a minute before he answered, "Th-there were about five police cars there and ... and a _campus police_ _car_. And Gaara and Yugito _ran_ there and –" Sasuke was stumbling over his words now, losing face as he became more agitated. He grinded his teeth, "I followed them because you were gone for a whole day and I had no clue where you were and Gaara said you were in trouble and –"

"Were you worried about me?" Naruto asked, looking surprised.

Sasuke looked away, a blush tinting his pale cheeks. "Of course not, idiot." He mumbled. A smile stretched across the blond's face and he began to eat his rice again, looking a bit more cheerful. Sasuke watched him for a minute before he sighed again, "You didn't answer my question."

"Ah…" Naruto said quietly, "Do you know what happened to Mizuki?"

"From what the media says, he's currently recovering in the hospital right now but once he's better, he'll be taken to jail." Sasuke answered, keeping a steady eye on Naruto's expression.

The blond bit his lower lip hesitantly before letting out a relieved sigh. He massaged his temple. "So he's alive…"

Sasuke frowned. "Did he attack you and Professor Umino? Why weren't you hurt? Our Law and Society class is cancelled right now because apparently he's in the hospital in the IC unit!"

Naruto didn't reply to this as he silently finished up his rice. He placed the bowl to the side and looked hard into Sasuke's eyes, studying him for a bit. The younger man tried not to shift uncomfortably in his seat as he stared back, waiting patiently for a reply. Finally, Naruto sighed and looked away. "Iruka and Mizuki…used to be part of the police force that Tsunade leads. I've been under the care of Tsunade and Jiraiya since I was really young so I basically grew up in the force. Iruka is like a father to me and … I trusted Mizuki. But he turned on us that night and Iruka got shot trying to protect me."

"But… Mizuki's hospitalized…" Sasuke said slowly, trying to put the pieces together.

A wry smile twitched at the side of Naruto's mouth and he looked away. "Ahh, yeah… I got my act together after that and beat the crap out of him." When Sasuke didn't reply to that comment, Naruto relaxed, figuring that this was all he needed to say to satiate his roommate's curiosity. "So, I missed two days of school. Can I borrow your notes?"

Sasuke scoffed, standing up and collecting both their dishes before heading to the sink to wash them. "You missed them, it's your fault."

"Aw, come on, Sasuke! That's what friends are for!" Naruto complained, following him to the sink where he tried to help him clean. Sasuke shoved him away with a soapy hand causing Naruto to laugh as his arm got covered in suds. He reached towards the stream of running water, cupping some in the palm of his hand and splashing it all over Sasuke.

The brunet froze in shock as water dripped off his face. "Oi, idiot…" He growled and set down the dish he was soaping up. He used both hands to cup the water and threw it towards Naruto who laughed and twisted out of the way, getting the back of his shirt wet. Sasuke reached out and grabbed fistfuls of Naruto's t-shirt, yanking the blond towards the sink. In a few quick movements, Sasuke managed to shove Naruto's head under the faucet, turning the tap on high, drenching Naruto's locks through.

Naruto struggled in vain, sputtering indignantly as water dripped into his mouth and eyes, before finally yelling, "Alright! Alright, I give!" Sasuke smirked triumphantly and released his hold on the blond. Wrenching himself from out under the tap, Naruto shook the water droplets from his hair. "That was so cheap." He complained, yanking his soaked t-shirt off, using it to dry his hair. Water ran down his bare chest which Naruto wiped off with his soaked shirt. Sasuke glanced at him with a smirk before turning back to the dishes.

Someone knocked on the door and the two turned towards the sound. "Come in." Naruto called as he tossed his wet shirt onto the back of his chair.

The door opened and Hinata walked in, Neji's cousin and a fellow first year student rooming with Ino, looking extremely nervous. "A-a-ah, N-Naruto…" She said, her eyes fixed to the floor.

"Oh, hi, Hinata, what's up?" Naruto asked casually, leaning against the counter, completely forgetting that he was still half-naked. The dark-haired girl looked up to give him a small smile, only to notice his current condition. She gave a loud squeak before she promptly fainted on the floor. Naruto took two seconds to gape at her fallen figure before he straightened up. "Eeeh? Hinata?" He called. Sasuke rolled his eyes and resumed washing the dishes.

To Naruto's surprise, another girl rushed into his apartment to Hinata's side. "Hinata, get a hold of yourself!" Ino scolded as she propped her roommate up against the wall. "Naruto's not that scary, right Naru…to…" Ino had turned to Naruto with a cheeky grin only for it to falter when she noticed his half-nakedness.

"W-What?" Naruto asked nervously as Ino eyed him up and down.

Ino licked her lips and gave the other blond a sly grin. "Naruto, you are _hot_." She stated plainly. By the sink, Sasuke turned around to give her a look as if to say she was completely crazy. "Oh, don't worry, Sasuke, you're also hot." Ino replied, completely misinterpreting his meaning. "But sheesh, Naruto, who knew you had such a hot body under your clothes?"

Naruto slowly glanced down, now realizing he was inappropriately half-naked and that it was his chest that Ino was so hungrily staring at. "Uhhh… thanks?" He said sheepishly, looking embarrassed.

Sasuke snorted irritably and turned to look over Naruto. Just what did Ino and Hinata see in the idiot anyway? Sure he was well-built and muscular, but that was no reason to go speechless and _faint_, right? "Sasuke?" The brunet's head snapped up to Naruto's face before he realized in mortification that he had been staring. His face flushed a bright red and he turned away awkwardly to avoid the amused look Naruto was giving him.

Much to his chagrin, two more people dashed into the apartment and loudly called out, "What? Naruto's hot?" Sasuke cringed, recognizing that to be the voice of Sakura. No doubt it was Karin, her roommate, who was following close behind her. One peek towards the front entrance confirmed his suspicions as true. The two girls with clashing red-tinted hair pushed in front of Ino to stare at Naruto with unabashed openness.

"I love how none of you believed it was possible until my shirt was off." Naruto grumbled under his breath, his ego being wounded even more as Sakura and Karin both stared at him as if he had grown a second head instead. "Is my face not good enough?" He demanded. Ino only giggled in response as Naruto stormed into his room to get a dry t-shirt.

Sasuke dried his hands and turned to the group of girls who had now gathered in his kitchen. He crossed his arms, "Why are you here?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing at Hinata who was slowly waking up. Ino steered her towards Naruto's chair and gently sat her down.

Sakura grinned widely, "I don't know if you've seen the fliers around the building lately but there's going to be a Halloween party next week!"

Sasuke's frown deepened. Of course he had seen the posters; they were everywhere. Hell, someone had even managed to sneak into his apartment and tape one onto his bathroom mirror! "Your point?"

"We're trying to get everybody from our house to go!" Karin chipped in, her eyes sparkling with anticipation behind her thick-rimmed glasses.

"No." And with that, Sasuke looked away (he couldn't go to his room as the girls were blocking his way and walking towards them would be like walking into the clutches of a pack of hungry hyenas).

Naruto exited his room, now dressed properly, and cast a glance at the stoic brunet. "Why not, bastard? It sounds like fun." He gave the girls a friendly grin and Ino clapped her hands in excitement.

"Naruto, you're hot _and_ amazing." The blond flushed in embarrassment, clearly looking lost as to how to deal with such open flirting. He gave Sasuke a quick glance as if to ask him for help but his roommate only smirked at him.

"A-anyways," Naruto stuttered with a grin, "you should go too. Everyone else will!"

Sasuke snorted. "I highly doubt that." And Naruto knew he was right as there were some _highly_ anti-social people in their house, such as Shino and Gaara, and some people who would think parties are way too troublesome, like Shikamaru.

The blond bit his lower lip as he began to think. "Well… if everybody did, would you go too?"

The two exchanged looks and Sasuke could see where Naruto was going with this. "Perhaps." He said ambiguously.

"So, if I convinced everybody else in our house to go to the party, then you promise you'll go too?" Naruto pressed on, looking eager.

Sasuke smirked. "_If_ you can, then I'll go. But I mean _everybody._" From the other side of the kitchen, the girls looked on eagerly as the challenge was presented.

Naruto grinned and immediately accepted the task. "Great! C'mon girls, we have people to convince!" And with that, he quickly hustled the girls out of the small apartment, sending a wink towards Sasuke before he left too. "Bye, bastard! We'll see you at the party."

* * *

Sasuke scowled darkly as he leaned against the vibrating wall and took another sip of his beer. He eyed the crowded dance floor where his idiotic roommate was currently dancing with the other girls and boys from their house. He couldn't believe that Naruto had successfully managed to convince every single person to go to the party. How did he do it? And of course, Sasuke had his pride to keep up and gracefully accepted defeat to the challenge by agreeing to go to the party. But that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

The party took place at the underground university pub and was packed with students. The heavy bass shook every surface with current popular remixes and tunes while people danced with each other, grinding to the beat. Most people from his house were dancing with each other in the centre of the dance floor, Naruto jumping from girl to girl, dancing equally with all of them. Not all of the guys from their house were with the dance group. The ones who were more wary of dancing were hanging by the bar to Sasuke's right.

Sasuke was alone against the wall, trying to look as anti-social as possible. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as if he was in fact, just inviting the drunken girls to come up and grind against him into the wall. The raven scowled as a bleached-hair blonde came up to him, giggling, and began to shake her hips into his crotch. "Leave." He ordered harshly, as he pushed her away. She stumbled backwards looking shocked before shooting a hurt scowl at him and moved onto her next victim.

"That was kind of harsh, don't you think, Sasuke?" A hot voice whispered into his ear.

Sasuke jumped about a foot in the air and scrambled away from the voice. "What the _fuck_, Suigetsu!" He snarled, glaring heatedly at the older boy.

Suigetsu smirked and took a casual swig from the beer bottle in his hand. "Someone's feeling prissy tonight." He commented, siding next to the dark-haired boy and turning his gaze to their dancing housemates.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked grumpily as he stared at Naruto holding Sakura close in his arms as they grinded together.

The light-haired boy shrugged, "I got bored of trying to grope Karin while dancing. My head started hurting after getting hit for the fifth time." He snickered into his drink as he watched the redhead and Ino dance with each other.

Sasuke shook his head. "You're both idiots." He answered.

Suigetsu laughed before frowning. "Is Lee crying?" He and Sasuke looked to where the don was standing.

"Why would he be crying?" Sasuke asked. He followed the direction of Lee's gaze and saw that he was staring at Naruto and Sakura's dancing figures. "He can't really be crying…" He muttered under his breath.

The other boy shrugged. "There are tears streaming down his face."

"It's because the moron's dancing with Sakura." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

Suigetsu grinned to himself before leaning closer to Sasuke. "You've been staring at Naruto the whole night, Uchiha. Not jealous he's not over here, are you?" He chuckled into the ear, causing Sasuke to shiver and step away with a glare.

"Stop." He ordered. Suigetsu complied with a smirk and the two turned back to watching the group.

Naruto was having the time of his life; he had never had the opportunity to go to clubbing before and it was better than he imagined. He loved feeling of the pounding bass shaking his very core, the way everybody just danced to the music without any inhibitions, and the fact that he was dancing with girls for the first time in his life.

He grinned as he swayed with Sakura, his hands on her hips. To his side, Karin and Ino danced together while Hinata moved shyly next to them. Kiba kept close to her, holding her hands and trying to get her to loosen up a bit. Surprisingly, Neji was also in their circle, dancing with Tenten and Temari. Naruto hadn't pinned him as the dancing type and although the don didn't exactly look like he was in his element, he was there for his friends' sake.

As the song blended into another, Naruto stepped away from Sakura and Lee practically flew over to take his place. Sakura gave the don a polite smile and continued to dance, although she didn't look too particularly happy with the partner change. Naruto had already disappeared from the dance floor anyway, making his way over to the bar where several of his housemates were sitting and drinking. Since he was the one who had convinced every single one of them to come, the blond felt that it was his responsibility to make sure they were enjoying themselves.

Pushing his way through the crowd, Naruto barely felt the small pin prick at his neck. He slapped a hand over his neck but felt nothing there. Whatever it was had quickly disappeared. Maybe it was a bug? With a frown, Naruto continued to push through dancing bodies, his eyes squinting as his vision began to blur slightly. "Shit…" he groaned as he stumbled slightly. He felt the same pricking feeling again on the other side of his neck and he slapped his hand over that area as well. Whatever was making the needle-like pain had disappeared already.

Naruto knew that he was being attacked now and he desperately tried to control his body, but whatever drugs were in the needles were leaving him unable to properly stay on his feet, much less run away. Before he blacked out, he stumbled forward into someone's body. He could feel them throwing his arms over shoulders while strangers' arms slipped around his waist to hold him up from both side.

Perhaps he could have believed that it was one of his housemates who had caught him if he hadn't heard the last words before falling unconscious: "Payback time."

* * *

Gaara lifted his head from the beer bottle he had been gulping out of previously to glance at the crowd of dancing people. Something was wrong and he needed to find Naruto _now_. He got out of his seat hastily but his vision swam. Reluctantly, he sat back down and held his head with a quiet groan. He hadn't drunk _that_ much tonight had he?

"Are you feeling alright, Gaara?" Deidara asked. He was Sasori's roommate and the two often hung out with Gaara in the dorms. Both were currently at the small table Gaara had been sitting quietly at, keeping the redhead company. "Not drunk, are you, un?" He teased.

Gaara managed to glare at him before lolling his head back down into his arms. _Such_ a bad time to be drunk. "I'm fine." He insisted even though he knew he wasn't.

"Should we take you back to your room?" Sasori asked in his monotone voice.

The feeling that Naruto was in trouble was starting to become irritating and Gaara was getting frustrated with himself for being stupid. "No." He said, forcefully getting up from his seat. He stumbled forward and Deidara caught him, holding him steady. "I need to go find Naruto." He pushed away the support and took a step forward before his head spun again, causing him to stumble backwards into the table. "_Dammit!_" The redhead hissed, feeling furious and helpless.

Sasori threw one of Gaara's arms over the older man's shoulder and dragged him from the table so that he leaned on him instead. "Come on. We're taking you back."

"No." Gaara insisted. "Naruto."

He couldn't see the exasperated look on Deidara's face as he helped support the other side of the intoxicated redhead. "Fine, un. We'll go find Naruto. Let's go, un." The three made their way towards the exit.

* * *

Naruto had disappeared into the crowd and Sasuke couldn't figure out where he had gone. That same uneasy feeling that he had felt the night Naruto had been found unconscious in Mizuki Touji's house was returning. His gut instincts were telling him that he should go look for the blond. But how much trouble could the blond possibly get into at a packed underground pub? If there was a fight or something, Sasuke would have already seen it.

"I'm leaving." He said to Suigetsu, pushing himself off the wall.

The light-haired boy pouted, "Aw, stay a while, Sasuke. Don't be such a party pooper."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, not wanting to waste any more time explaining himself to him. "No, I've had enough." He ignored the rest of Suigetsu's protests as he walked through the crowd, leaving the boy behind.

When Sasuke couldn't find any traces of his blond roommate in the club, he left to search outside. "Naruto!" He called into the air as he eyed the few people leaving the club and walking off into the distance. Several people turned their heads towards his sudden call, but none were the blond idiot. With a grumble, Sasuke began to head in the direction of The Academy, hoping that Naruto had just decided to bail on the party to sleep or something. However, deep inside, he knew that it was most likely not the case here.

As he trudged along in the brisk autumn night air, Sasuke barely heard the sounds of the approaching footsteps until they were right behind him. Before he could react, the stranger slipped a cloth over his mouth and nose, holding it tightly to his face. As Sasuke struggled against the strong hold, he felt a hot breath next to his ear. "And snap goes the trap."

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**A/N: **Reviews, comments, and constructive criticisms are strongly desired. Thank you!


	9. Waking Consciousness

**A/N: **Ahh! I'm actually really proud of this chapter. I've been taking a course at school on Prose Narrative and I'm trying to apply all the concepts I've been learning to make my story writing better. I hope people see a difference and enjoy the work I put into this chapter. Please review afterwards. Thanks so much to all those who did, I really appreciate everything! Thanks also to those who put this story on alert and in your favourites. I'm glad to see people are enjoying this so far.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Naruto, Sasuke wouldn't be such a dumb fuck.

**Warnings: **Un-beta'ed. Blood and violence, all that good stuff.

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**Undercover Babysitter  
**_Chapter Eight: Waking Consciousness_

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An unfamiliar numbing pain had seeped into his entire body, spreading to his limbs, making everything burn in an irritable manner. Gritting his teeth, Gaara tried to shift into a more comfortable position, in hopes of subduing the pain. To his surprise, his body felt weighted down and useless, as if all the strength had been zapped out of him. Suddenly realizing that he had just been sleeping, his eyes flew open. He hadn't properly slept in years because the last time he had, his Jinchuuriki had gone wild. How had he managed to let his guard down?

Letting his eyes take in what they could without him moving his head about, Gaara quickly realized that this was his room, not a random ditch on the streets. Did his Jinchuuriki not take over after he fell asleep? A frown appeared on his usually apathetic face. Something was off.

Suddenly, the door to his room opened and Gaara turned his head towards the intruders with an intimidating glare. A familiar blond head popped in. "Yo, Gaara. How are you feeling, un?" It was Deidara. "You must have drank a lot yesterday, un! We had to take you home." He made his way inside the room and sat down in the chair by Gaara's desk.

Sasori followed behind his friend, striding up to the redhead with a sullen look on his face. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

Gaara gazed back at him, frown fading away. "I can't move." He said bluntly. "What happened to me?"

Deidara casually began poking around his desk, fiddling with a pen. "It's a hangover." He said, waving it off. "You haven't gotten that drunk before, have you, un?"

No, he hadn't, but Gaara was pretty sure hangovers didn't take away your ability to move your body. If that _was_ the case, he was never going to touch alcohol ever again. "Where is Naruto?" He asked as he closed his eyes, trying to remember what happened last night. He was drawing a blank, but his Jinchuuriki bond was letting him know that _something_ had happened to him. Whether it was a good thing or not, he didn't know.

"He's in his room." Sasori answered, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "He's tending to his roommate right now."

"I heard he's got a pretty bad hangover." Deidara continued with a grin.

Gaara didn't reply to this. One thing that he knew for sure was that Naruto was not in his room. He was _nowhere_ in this building.

* * *

It was a low humming that woke Sasuke up from his deep, enforced sleep. He groaned as he pushed himself up, rolling out the kinks in his neck. He had slept funny so his right shoulder was sore now. Massaging out the sore muscle, Sasuke wondered why his chest was hurting so much. Even his breathing was raspy. "What the hell happened?" He grumbled as he got out of bed.

That's when he noticed that he hadn't been sleeping on a bed at all but on an examination table. He was in an unfamiliar, dingy lab filled with tables holding expensive lab equipments. In the corner, several test tubes were being heated slowly, letting off an unpleasant stink while the middle table was full of microscopes and vials. "Where the hell am I?" Sasuke muttered as he cautiously walked around.

The room was small and the walls were made out of cement. There were no windows at all so the only source of light was from the old fluorescent light above, humming away in an irritating manner.

Gazing around, Sasuke finally noticed that one of the walls was different from the rest. "Oh fuck!" He flew forward, pressing intently against the glass wall. There was another room connected to this one, separated by a thick sheet of glass, and there, hanging in the middle of that room was Naruto. His legs were forced apart and chained to the floor by shackles, his arms tied behind him by the wrist and forced upwards by a chain attached to the ceiling. "Oi, idiot!" He shouted, banging his fist against the wall. Naruto didn't respond, hanging limply from his chains, dead asleep. "Wake up, Uzumaki, you moron!"

"He's not going to wake up for a long time, Sasuke."

Saskue whirled around in surprise, arms up, ready to defend himself. In front of him stood Kabuto, the Teacher Assistant from his Chemistry course. He glared at him suspiciously. "What the hell is going on? And what did you do to Naruto?" Sasuke glanced back at his roommate. He gritted his teeth as his anger began to burn inside him.

Kabuto smirked knowingly at him and began to casually poke around the lab equipment. "Ah, Naruto Uzumaki, huh? So that's his real name?" Sasuke stiffened. "Naruto's been causing some problems with our men lately. We had to make sure he didn't hurt anybody. He'll be out for a while; the drug we used was quite concentrated."

"You bastard," Sasuke growled out, "what do you want with him?"

Raising an eyebrow, Kabuto pulled away from a microscope to turn towards the boy. "Him? Oh, nothing. He's useless now." He grinned widely and pushed his glasses up, "He was just a lure."

Sasuke eyed the other man carefully before asking, "Lure for who?"

"Isn't it obvious, Sasuke?" A voice whispered into his ear, breathing warmly on his skin. Sasuke yelled loudly, jumping away in surprise. He crashed into a table and accidentally swept a couple of glass beakers onto the ground. Glass sprayed everywhere and the liquids began to run in trails towards the drain on the floor. In shock, Sasuke stared at the mess on the ground, but the voice spoke again, drawing his attention back to the new man standing in the room. "Tsk, tsk, Sasuke. Kabuto spent a long time working on that solution." Orochimaru patronized with a mocking sad smile on his face.

"What the _fuck_ is going on?" Sasuke demanded angrily, gripping the edge of the table tightly, recognizing the man right away.

Orochimaru chuckled as he stepped closer towards the boy who was acting like a cat, hissing and spitting. "I desperately need you for my side project and I cannot take no for an answer."

"No." Sasuke replied stoutly, slowly straightening himself up. His eyes were glaring fiercely at the professor and his body was stiff, as if ready to pounce or jump away at any moment.

A smirk stretched over the sinister face of the older man and he backed away. "I had a feeling you would continue to be stubborn. It's a good thing I anticipated this." He said, turning his back on Sasuke to stroll casually over to the window. He lifted a metal covering on the window sill, revealing a row of buttons, and pressed a green one. A loud buzzer sounded, making Sasuke jump slightly, and then the door in Naruto's room was pushed opened. To his horror, four people strolled in. They began to loop bare wires up along Naruto's arms and bare chest, connecting them to an ominous-looking machine.

"What are they doing?" He asked. Taking advantage of his distraction, Kabuto forced Sasuke into a chair, holding him down with two hands on his shoulders.

"My poor babies have been waiting for this chance for a while. They're thirsty for some revenge." Orochimaru drawled, giving the four kids a sympathetic look.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What are they going to do to him?"

Orochimaru didn't reply right away as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. Then, after studying Naruto for a few minutes, he replied. "That's a rather erotic position Naruto's in, don't you agree, Sasuke?"

It didn't sink into his head right away what Orochimaru was implying, but after he figured it out, Sasuke began to sputter. "W-What the fuck?" He shouted, making way to jump out of his chair in fury. Kabuto pushed him harshly back down, refusing to let go when he began to struggle. Quickly, he tied the boy down; binding his arms to the arm rests before tying his legs to the legs of the chair. "Let me go! You're a sick man, Orochimaru! Leave him out of this; he's done nothing wrong!"

The sinister sneer stretched wider and the man began to chuckle, laughing hard until he was keeling over, holding his stomach. Sasuke glared furiously at him, fists clenching by his side. After a while, Orochimaru managed to regain his composure and he straightened, still chuckling lightly. "You don't know much about him, do you, Sasuke?" The boy stiffened but refused to reply. "These four-" he motioned to the four people in the room who had now finished setting up whatever they were doing and were now standing around, waiting for instructions, "-lost their leader because of Naruto. A life for a life sounds like a fair deal, don't you agree, Sasuke?"

Sasuke glared defiantly. "That can't be Naruto. He's not capable of hurting anybody. He's just an idiot!"

Orochimaru smirked. "I've got an idea. Why don't I give you a show and you can judge yourself just how capable he is."

"A show…?" Sasuke said in confusion.

Smirking, the man turned towards the windows, pressing another button on his control panel. "Get me a blood sample."

* * *

The pain in his arms was fading away and slowly, Gaara could feel his strength returning. He was thankful that he did not have to entertain his two unwanted guests further as they sat around in his room, chatting idly with him while he laid there waiting for his body to get back to normal. It had only been about 30 minutes since Deidara and Sasori arrived before Gaara pushed himself up. He glared at the surprised look on the two's faces. "Leave." He demanded.

Deidara struggled to fix the shocked expression on his face before grinning sheepishly. "Ehehe… are you sure you're feeling alright, Gaara? We could help you out some more, un!" On his right, Sasori quickly glanced at the clock.

Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, Gaara forced himself to stand up on his weak legs, holding onto his dresser to keep balance. "I'm _fine._ Leave now. I have class in 10 minutes."

The shrew smile on Deidara's face twitched slightly but he didn't reply. It did not seem as if Gaara would listen to him even if he explained to him that it was Sunday and that he had no classes. Instead, he and Sasori both stood up and began to head out the door with Gaara following behind them slowly. "Feel better, Gaara!" He called as they left and the door was firmly shut after them.

As the two began to head up the stairs back to their room, Sasori gave an irritated grumble to his partner. "I don't understand why we waited. We could have taken him to Pein last night. You know I hate waiting."

Deidara smirked. "Ahh, ahh, Sasori… you know we can't do this job half-assed. If we woke up before we were finished, we wouldn't have survived."

The redhead unlocked the door to their apartment and the two headed inside. "He recovered from the dosage after a few hours." Sasori stated as he opened up the folder that was lying on their kitchen table and began to jot down notes. "Next time we'll have to give him a stronger concentration."

The blond frowned as he sat down at the table. "It was already three times the recommended amount. Jinchuuriki blood is amazing, un!"

"Hn." Sasori replied as he wrote out calculations.

"But, a stronger dosage could kill him." Deidara said in an uncertain voice.

Sasori looked up from his paper to pierce him with cold eyes. "Do not get attached to the target, Deidara. You do know he will die soon."

The blond grunted, returning the glare coldly. "I know that. I'm just saying he can't die because we ODed him, un. We have to do this properly." He stood up and retreated to his room, closing the door behind him firmly.

Below, Gaara pulled on his jacket and headed downstairs, opting to use the elevator today instead of the stairs like usual, since his legs were still extremely weak and shaky. When he arrived on the main floor, he brushed past the security guard and saw Yugito waiting for him in the lobby looking pissed.

"Those damn people wouldn't let me in. I'm glad you knew I was here." Yugito said curtly, briefly looking him over. Although Gaara was not blatantly showing that his body was feeling weaker than normal, the Jinchuuriki bond immediately notified Yugito that something was wrong. "Are you going to be able to keep up?" She asked.

Gaara eyed her with bored eyes. "I'll be able to work off a hangover."

The blonde pursed her lips. "You know we can't really get drunk, Gaara."

He knew.

* * *

"Get me a blood sample." Orochimaru ordered through the microphone, a sinister grin on his face.

His minions exchanged incredulous looks and turned towards him with wide eyes. "S-Sir? Are you sure?" The girl asked; the frightened look on her face made Sasuke frown. It was just a blood sample; did they think the blood was going to jump out and strangle her or something?

The professor drawled impatiently, "Hurry up, don't question me. I want six vials waiting for me by the next 5 minutes."

The four students hastily nodded as they rushed to get needles and tubes and vials, one staying behind to survey the unconscious body of Naruto. "Sir, there's no way we can get a good vein in his arm when he's in this position." The boy stated.

Rolling his eyes, Orochimaru sighed, looking extremely disappointed at his students' performances. "Sakon, there are plenty of other veins you can poke through." He stared at Naruto thoughtfully before waving his hands casually towards the blond, "Try his neck; there are plenty there."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he growled low in his throat. "What the fuck are you planning to do, Orochimaru?! You're going to kill him!" He struggled fiercely against the bonds holding him down to the chair.

A sounding click near his left ear ceased his struggling as he recognized the sound to be the cocking of a gun. Peering slowly to his side, Sasuke was horrified to see a silver hand gun being pointed in his direction. "Hold still, Sasuke." Orochimaru said in a silky voice, his eyes still set firmly on Naruto. "Your roommate's not the only one I want blood from."

"You are insane." Sasuke hissed furiously. Kabuto tied a rubber strap around his right arm and began to tap around for a vein. Turning to the silver-haired man, he hacked spit into his face and began to struggle again. "Let me go! Let me go, you sick f—" He gasped loudly, a forced scream getting caught in his throat. His left shoulder began to seer in hot pain as blood began pouring out from the deep scrape carved in the junction between his shoulder and neck. A damn bullet had ripped through his muscle.

It took a while to catch his breath again. Growling, the boy turned to glare at Orochimaru, whose position had barely changed, except the end of his gun was now smoking. Lazily, the man peered down at the boy he had just shot at. "Kabuto, you better not let that blood go to waste."

Immediately, his assistant held a vial under a small stream of blood, collecting the red liquid. Sasuke's body was slowly going into shock, preventing him from being able to fight back. "Watch carefully, Sasuke." Orochimaru purred, tucking his gun away. His hand snaked through Sasuke's black locks and yanked his head up. His dazed eyes eventually settled upon Naruto's form.

A needle slowly pierced through Naruto's skin and immediately began sucking blood out. Red coloured the tube, filling up one vial after another. "Ukon, make sure you're ready with the tasers in case he reacts." The girl ordered. The four students were working quickly and hastily and the one holding the needle accidentally jiggled it, stabbing deeper into the neck.

What happened next was all a blur to Sasuke. One moment he was watching people draw blood out of Naruto's neck and then seconds later, there was dark red viscous liquid splattered against the glass, blocking his view. He froze, despite the pulsating pain in his shoulder. "What happened?"

Orochimaru smirked widely. "Let the show begin."

A heavy body slammed into the glass and Sasuke jump in his seat. As it slid down limply, the blood smeared with it, sufficiently wiping enough away so that he could see what was happening in the other room. There, standing in the middle of the bloodied room was Naruto, no longer chained up, but with his shackles hanging on his wrists and ankles, completely torn off from the walls. From behind his dirty blond bangs, he stared at them through the glass.

Sasuke was stunned to find red eyes staring back at him instead of crystal blue eyes.

Dropping the limp body he was holding in his stained hands, Naruto crashed his body into the glass, creating a heavy thumping sound at the impact. He growled when he realized he hadn't broken the glass yet and continued tackling against the window, slowly creating cracks.

Orochimaru thinned his lips and turned to his assistant. "Seal him up now. We have to go." Kabuto nodded and pulled out a syringe filled with shimmering black liquid. Pulling Sasuke's shirt down to uncover the wound on his shoulder, he began to squirt a thick layer over the opening, some of it spilling out and cascading down his body.

The mysterious liquid was cool and soothing on first contact and made Sasuke drowsy, despite the chaos that was swirling around him. Then, his body started to burn in unbelievable pain. He began to scream and struggle against his bonds, desperate to wipe the foreign substance away. His body was convulsing, trying to reject the liquid even though it was pouring into his system through the deep cut.

Screaming and crying and babbling incoherent words, Sasuke could no longer tell what was going on around him. White filled his vision and it took him a while to realize that it was just his vision spazzing out while he shook. Hazily, he felt his bonds being cut through and he immediately closed himself together, curling up into a ball, scratching desperately at his shoulder. He felt himself being lifted up into someone's arms and being carried away but whoever was carrying him was hit by something heavy and he fell hard on the ground.

He laid there for what felt like eternity, the searing pain numbing his body, his eyes squeezed tight, listening to the shouts and screams that he couldn't see. And then there was silence. Sasuke wished he could see what had happened, who was still standing, whose footsteps those were that were approaching him, but all he could see when he opened his eyes was a blurred vision of the floor.

Rough hands pulled his into a sitting position, a hand cradling his head while the other ripped off his torn shirt. Something wet and warm covered his wound and began to suck. Sasuke began to struggle again, pushing against the bigger body, but the mouth wouldn't leave. It was painful, so painful, and the numbing was leaving him, making him feel. The suction on his shoulder released its' hold and he heard a loud spitting sound before it was back.

The last thing Sasuke saw as he struggled to keep his eyes opened was a blur of blood-streaked blond hair. Then his vision went black.

* * *

They didn't have to go that far before they found the place Naruto was supposed to be. In the Chemistry section of campus, Gaara and Yugito followed their instincts inside the research building, taking the elevators to the basement before taking stairs down to the floors that even the elevator couldn't reach. Everything was extremely dusty on these floors as they were supposedly abandoned and unused. The research lab they arrived at was well hidden in the shadows.

Gripping the door handle, Yugito slid it open and immediately, the smell of blood and chemical fumes invaded her senses. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she held back a gag and her eyes watered. Gaara strode past her into the room and began to look over the damage done.

It was obvious this was a lab, or at least it used to be a lab, but now just about everything had been overturned and broken. The concrete walls and floors were smeared into a bloody mess and in the centre of the room were four bodies. Two of them unfamiliar and both were beaten so badly that their faces were completely contorted and unrecognizable. A few metres away from those two forms were Naruto and Sasuke. The brunet was unconscious looking worse for wear, his limp body cradled in Naruto's arms who was sitting tiredly against a desk. Naruto's shirt had been ripped off and wadded into a ball, now being pressed at Sasuke's shoulder.

The blond looked up when the two rushed over to his side and he cracked a tired grin. "Glad you're here. Can one of you call Tsunade?" Yugito nodded and left the room, most likely to head upstairs to get better reception on her cell phone. Silently, Gaara began to prod at the two bodies of Orochimaru and Kabuto with his shoe. "I don't think they're dead." Naruto said wryly.

"Hn." Gaara confirmed. He straightened and looked around the damaged room.

"There are four more in that other room." Naruto continued, cocking his head in the direction of the glass window. Gaara gave him a long questioning stare before the blond sighed and complied to answer his unspoken question. "I don't know how I got here, but I was woken up by Kyuubi's defences kicking in and I saw them putting something weird into Sasuke so I saved him." He motioned to the wound he was currently putting pressure on to try and stop the bleeding.

The two were launched into an awkward silence as Gaara continued to look around to see how bad the damage was. Finally, Naruto let out a sigh, "Hey Gaara?" The redhead didn't reply but Naruto continued on, assuming he was still listening. "I was… fully aware of what I was doing. That's never happened before when my bijuu was released."

The shuffling paused briefly before continuing. "It means that because you're aware of your powers, you'll be able to gain control soon. Your bijuu will have a harder time running wild if you know what's happening."

Both Jinchuuriki peered towards the door when they heard approaching footsteps and Yugito slipped back into the room. "I called her; she's on her way."

Naruto gave another grin. "That's great. I'm going then." And he closed his eyes and slumped forward into heavy unconsciousness.

Clearing away the pieces shattered glass, Gaara laid Naruto down on the floor to rest in a more comfortable position, moving Sasuke beside him. Yugito removed the bloodied shirt from the boy's shoulder and examined the wound, grimacing, "That looks disgusting, but it doesn't seem like it's infected." She refolded the shirt and placed it back over the wound. Then she reached back and pulled the long ribbon that was tied around her ponytail off and used it to wrap the shirt tightly to Sasuke's body. "Well, there goes my favourite ribbon." Gaara smirked but didn't reply, opting to sit beside Naruto's still form and stare. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know, but from what Naruto told me, I think when he woke up, he found himself here." Gaara explained. He pointed to the broken glass wall that separated the two rooms. "You can tell right? He lost a lot of blood over there – it's all over the floor."

Yugito nodded slowly, "And the Uchiha?"

"Most likely brought here the same time Naruto was. Maybe he was being used as some sort of experiment," explained Gaara, leaning back against the desk, "Tsunade will probably be able to figure it out."

The girl sighed and sat down beside Gaara, closing her eyes as she leaned back. They sat in silence together, waiting anxiously for the sounds of police sirens.

After what seemed to be longer than necessary, Gaara's eyes opened to the thundering of footsteps. Tsunade strode into the room, followed by several police officers and ambulance workers. Glancing once around the room, she began barking out instructions. "Check the bodies. If they need medical attention, get them into stretchers and ship them to the hospital. Make sure you keep one officer with each person. You two bring two stretchers and follow me."

She marched over towards them and kneeled down next to Sasuke. She did a external check up, running her hands over his limbs to check if there was any excessive bleeding other than the obvious wound on his shoulder. Then she checked his breathing and pulse. "Patient needs an oxygen mask. Take him to the ER to stitch up that wound in his shoulder." Tsunade stepped back to allow her workers to load Sasuke up onto the stretchers and moved onto the blond.

Gaara spoke up, "He lost a lot of blood."

The section chief froze and stared hard at him. "_What?_" She asked in disbelief. Obviously she had never been in a situation before where Naruto had actually lost _a lot_ of blood. "Show me." She demanded, standing up and looking expectantly at the redhead.

Complying, Gaara also stood up and led the way to the other room where the four students were being taken away on stretchers. The concrete floor had several large puddles of dark blood; all spilt and splattered from broken test tubes. Tsunade strapped on latex gloves and began to examine the larger pieces of glass. "This is all his blood, you say?" Gaara gave a small grunt in affirmation. With a sigh, the chief began to pull out a bag of cotton swabs, collecting samples of the blood.

"What are you doing?" The redhead asked in his monotone voice.

"It's rare that I ever get a chance to do research on Naruto's blood as getting a blood sample is hard enough. I will use what I can get here and we'll have to destroy the rest." She tucked away the swabs in a plastic bag, tucking them into her pocket. Straightening up, the blonde looked sternly into Gaara's eyes. "We cannot risk having someone else come across his blood so easily here. Once we have gathered enough evidence, this room will be completely wiped down and sanitized."

"What about the people who kidnapped Naruto and Uchiha?" Gaara asked, following the woman to the next room. All the patients had been brought upstairs already and so only Yugito was left waiting for them.

Tsunade's eyes darkened, "Uchiha and Naruto are able to press charges against Orochimaru Sannin now. And if they don't, I certainly will."

* * *

Sasuke woke up with the most excruciating and irritating pain in his shoulder in the dead of night. Gasping at the sudden flood of pain that came when he slipped into consciousness, the boy grinded his teeth together and tried to allow his body to get used to the pain, wondering why the hell he was feeling like this. What the hell had happened?

Oh wait. Orochimaru.

Groaning softly, Sasuke blinked in the dark, not recognizing the shadows being made in the room. Looking around, it was quickly deduced that he was not his room in the apartment he shared with Naruto. In fact, judging from the incessant beeping coming from the machine on his left, he was most likely in the hospital.

A string of curse words left his mouth as he shifted around in his bed, causing pain to shoot up his body. Once he reached a more comfortable position, he sank back into his pillows and gave a sigh of relief. Damn. From the feel of it, his injury was pretty bad and he would probably be staying in this damn bed for at least two weeks.

Letting his tired eyes flutter shut, Sasuke calmly listened to the still of the night (ignoring the beeping machine), ready to try and catch some more rest before morning. He briefly wondered where Naruto was and if someone had managed to stop Orochimaru and Kabuto. His last few memories were extremely hazy so no matter how hard he tried, all he could remember was sound and pain.

There was a whisper of noise to his right. Eyes flying open, Sasuke immediately was caught in the gaze of hauntingly familiar red eyes. "I-Itachi…" He breathed, his body going rigid. His mouth only continued to gape, any words past his brother's name disappearing.

The man stepped forward closer to the bed, his piercing eyes surveying the prostrate body before him, ignoring Sasuke's voice of recognition. "That idiot snake," He murmured under his breath, almost too quiet for Sasuke to hear. He immediately strained his ears to catch more of the words. "I make a deal with him and he completely screws up. Worthless."

The heart monitor began to speed up as Itachi gripped Sasuke's chin and forced him to look up at him. Sasuke gulped, frozen stiff and unable to do anything to wrench himself out of the bruising hold. "Who did he use to lure you?" The hand shook his face harshly. "Sasuke! Tell me!" The beeping of the monitor jumped around erratically as the shaking moved to his shoulders. Pain flashed through Sasuke's entire body and he gave a small cry of protest. The beeping noise accelerated wildly before it stopped altogether.

Red eyes on black faded into black.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading! Please, review. I shall love you forever. Promise.


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